


Why Him?

by Alien_Guts



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: ADHD Sonic, Angst, Autistic Jet, F/F, Fluff, Highschool AU, M/M, No beta we fall faster than Maria after G.U.N. shows up on the Ark, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, They're idiots in love, Tourette's Jet, friends to boyfriends, let me have this, lgbtq+, rivals to friends, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29081628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alien_Guts/pseuds/Alien_Guts
Summary: After years of questioning why Jet has always felt so strangely towards Sonic, it is discovered that he has had a crush on him, but he's not ready to accept that. Sonic is confused on why Jet seems so distraught, and they try to help each other out, even when when isn't sure if he hates the other or not.
Relationships: Jet the Hawk & Sonic the Hedgehog, Jet the Hawk/Sonic the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat/Wave the Swallow
Comments: 23
Kudos: 17





	1. Stupid Face

‘That stupid hedgehog. It’s been 2 years since I’ve met him, and it’s been a living nightmare. He just has to be better than me at everything, even Extreme Gear! What kind of asshole just picks up gear and knows how to use it immediately? He has to have been lying, there’s no way he could’ve beaten me- The Legendary Wind Master. I mean come on! I can’t go a single day without ‘Ooo, Sonic this’ and ‘Sonic that’, I’m so tired of hearing his damn name. That’s all I hear, and that’s all I think about, just give me a break.’

“Jet? Hello! You in there bud? We’re not writing right now you know.” Jet looks up to see his teacher, Mr. Nguyen, staring at him, as well as the entire class. _Dammit_.

“Oh, um, s-sorry.” He mentally cursed himself trying to hold in his tics. _Why did he have to call on me, the asshole knows my tics get worse when my anxiety spikes._ Jet felt the urge to just flail around, but was doing his best to push down the squirming happening. He would always try and hold in his tics in public, the amount of stares would always cause was completely unwanted, it would only make them worse; plus it really brings down his ‘cool status’ (he thinks he has one).

The class continues on, and Jet begins writing again once Mr. Nguyen is looking away. ‘I don’t understand what he has that I don’t. I can race, I’m cool as shit, and I look even cooler’. The writing was beginning to get Jet worked up, and a vocal tic escaped. Luckily, it wasn’t that loud and only a few kids noticed, but one kid was still too many. ‘I just wish that everyone would stop talking about Sonic. It’s really getting on my nerves, I can’t stop thinking about him. He pisses me off so much my fucking stomach is in knots for fucks sake. All I want is to show everyone that I can be just as ‘cool’ as they think he is’. Looking across the classroom, Jet spots Sonic, sitting, well, fidgeting, not really paying attention to the lesson at all. _Why does he have to sit right there? Right in my viewline. Just another time I have to have him shoved in my face. Look at his stupid quills, dumb red shoes, gross ass smile._ It had been a little bit over a minute before Sonic looked over, his eyes meeting with Jet’s. _Shit_. Jet could hear Sonic quietly chuckle from across the room. _Stupid, stupid! Now not only does everyone think he’s better than you, he is gonna make fun of you too. This is why you don’t stare at people for so long. How the hell was I supposed to know how long was too long? GAH._ Jet was only becoming more and more ancy. He went into his backpack to grab one of his stim toys, but apparently made too much noise.

“Jet, is there a reason that you are doing almost everything in your power to avoid paying attention to my class? Do you not like how I teach ELA? Because feel free to come on up and teach the class yourself if that’s the case.” Mr. Nguyen loudly stated. Jet just remained in the same position. His brain was beginning to fog up, and he couldn’t put things together correctly.

“Well come on, sit up, and pay attention.” A few chuckles could be heard around the room. Quickly, Jet pulled out whichever one he grabbed, and sat up looking to Mr. Nguyen. Once more, the class resumed. _Stupid koala._ It was only the first month of his Junior year, and Jet could already tell it was going to suck. There’s only so much berating and harassment one person can take before it gets to be too much, and three years of it was really pushing it.  
 _I don’t care about this stupid class. None of my classes even matter! I don’t want to do any of this college crap after, so there’s legit no need for me to be here now._ Jet sighed and continued writing with his left hand and messing with his tangle in his right. ‘There has to be a way for me to gain everyone’s respect. If I could do that, then maybe that stupid hedgehog would leave my mind. No competition, no more headaches.’ _Well, you’d get headaches either way, what with the tics and then meltdowns - But that’s besides the point!_ ‘If I could beat him in a race, in front of as many people as I could, then I would gain their respect, and he would go back to some lame track kid’. _For years I’ve had these stupid knots anytime I’ve thought about him, but I might finally have a solution! Not only can I show everyone how much better than him I am, but I can also rest easy knowing that he’d be far below me,_ metaphorically and physically.

Seeing as he should probably at least know what the assignment was, Jet tried to pay attention for a little while.

"Now does everyone know what the assignment is?" _Shit._ The class all responded in unison with an unenthusiastic 'yes'.

"Oh, do we now? Jet, what is this week's assignment?" _Are you fucking kidding me?_ Jet sat there for a second, trying to get a hint from the whiteboard, but the presentation was over.

"Um . . ." Panic started setting in. He bounced his leg as fast as he could, and was practically about to explode from holding in his tics for so long.

"An answer by today would be ideal." Mr. Nguyen smirked, knowing full well Jet wouldn't know the answer.

"Y-y-y'know my-my 5-5-50-f-f-4 plan says y-you're not sup-suppos-supposed to call-" Jet was cut off before he could finish, and he was honestly glad he was too.

"Not the answer I asked for. Blaze, could you tell me what we're doing this week?" Blaze looked back at Jet, he refused to look back.

"We're doing an 8 paragraph essay comparing and contrasting 3 different poems from the list on the board." She paused and tried to start up again.

"Mr. Nguyen, I don't think you're supposed to single out students like tha-" Same as Jet, the large koala cut off Blaze.

"Well, now that everyone knows what the assignment is, please choose a 3 poems listed on the board, and when you pick them, come up to tell me so I may write it down, and grab a copy of the poems on the way back to your seat." The class did as they were told, some almost immediately walking up to the teachers desk right after he finished speaking.

A few kids and Jet were the last ones to go up. The class had about almost 50 students in it, so even the last line was long as all hell. _I can't believe you kept yaking even after stuttering that much. Some kind of idiot, honestly. Bravo, you've managed to completely embarrass yourself. No one cares about your 504 plan clearly. What's the point of having one if the teachers aren't going to respect it? 'Let's see how long it takes before I break the disabled kid, dahaha!' Fucking dickweed._

"Hey, you alright Jet?" The sound of Sonic's voice made Jet stumble slightly, catching him by surprise.

"Huh?" Jet asked looking up at the blue hedgehog.

"I asked if you were alright. Mr. Nguyen was kind of being a jerk back there, and I just wanted to make sure you're alright. He really kinda singled you out." Sonic said, rubbing the back of his head. Jet's face grew a little bit warmer at the statement, he wasn't sure why, he just knew he didn't like it.

"What's it matter to you, Hedgehog?" Jet looked away, the eye contact starting to become too much. He was never sure if he was making too little or too much.

"I mean- I just wanted to check in." Sonic chuckled kind of nervously, Jet only became increasingly more flushed. They moved slightly forward as the line progressed, and Jet continued.

"What, are you happy to once again take victory over me?" The two stood rather closely, making Jet focus more on his tangle than looking up.

"What? No, I just- um . . . Heh, you're stutter seems to have subsided for a little bit. I guess you're a little less stressed then?" Jet looked up, thinking about how his stutter did seem to stop once he started taking to Sonic, which was strange, if he's stressed, stuttering just kind of comes with it.

"I- uh . . . I guess so." Jet let out a little half laugh, still not looking at Sonic. Hearing Jet being able to let something other than anger show for once made Sonic chuckle a little bit.

"Once you two are finally done with holding up the line, Jet, would you like to tell me which poems you chose?" Mr. Nguyen said, sitting in his chair with a clipboard in front of him with everyone's name on it.

"Oh, um-" Jet walked up to the side of the desk, now fidgeting with his tangle more than before.

"So, what poems will you be choosing?" The koala stared at Jet, his glare practically burning through his skin.

"I ch-chose 'L-l-lost, On-ne-one Sssoul', 'Be-Be-f-f-ore You-" For a second time, Jet was interrupted by Mr. Nguyen.

"Alright, 'Lost, One Soul', 'Before You Came', aaand, let's just say 'From New Eyes'." A chuckle erupted from the large man. Whatever. Jet let out a sigh and nodded. He grabbed the copies of the poems and began to walk back to his seat before Mr. Nguyen stopped him.

"Oh, and Jet! I've read your 504 plan, and I'm just trying to help you feel more normal by treating you like everyone else. They create these labels for things, and then all of a sudden, it's someone's excuse to not do anything. When I was growing up, kids would just deal with it, I thought you would enjoy being treated as an equal- as normal." Both Sonic and Jet stared confused beyond belief. First few weeks of being a Junior, and their ELA teacher is ableist, _isn't that just great._

Jet sat down at his seat, watching Sonic as he said his poems to the teacher, his face still warm from taking to him earlier. _One thing is for certain Hedgehog, I will beat you._


	2. Race me!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jet convinces Sonic to race him. Wave thinks this isn't the best of ideas, but Jet never backs down.

The Tuesday morning was slightly chilly on Jet’s way to school, he barely noticed though because he had other things going on in his head.  _ I mean, at least they forecasted for good weather today, that means I can beat Sonic after school, and then have a lovely day after. Oh who am I kidding, even if it were raining, a good day is a day where I rise above Sonic once and for all.  _ The school was coming into Jet’s sight, so he quickly dove down making a quick landing in the grass. It kind of sucked riding alone, but he was pretty used to it, Wave hadn’t rode with him to school since he was a freshman, and she was in her senior year. Students walked off the bus, chained up their bikes and began heading into the building, Jet tried to stay as far away from the crowd as possible. He liked attention, but it had all been so negative recently, that he’s not really going to push it unless it’s something good,  _ like the race.  _ Kids crowded into the main corridor which led straight to the cafeteria. Jet went down the left hallway to turn in his Gear since he didn’t have anywhere else to put it, and the school got mad at him for putting it on the roof that one time.

“Morning, Jet. How are you today?” The opossum at the front desk asked looking up from her computer. Jet walked around the desk leaning his gear against the wall next to one of the filing cabinets.

“I’m al-lright, Ms. V-vega. How’s Ernes-Ernes-Ernesto?” Ms. Vega smiled.

“He’s doing a lot better! His cough has gone down, and the doctors say he’ll make a full recovery.” Jet began walking to the door but looked back before leaving.

“That’s gr-r-reat! Well, have a go-o-od day.” He pushed the door open as Ms. Vega said ‘See you at 3:30’ as he walked out. She was one of the only staff who was actually nice to him, which makes sense, since she was one of the only staff members he was nice to. 

Jet began looking around the school for Sonic. He remembered that he would hang out with his friends in the cafeteria before class started. Once more, Jet heads to the entrance, mentally preparing himself for the clusterfuck that is the lunchroom.  _ So many people. Why are they all so loud? Can’t people just shut up? You see your friends everyday. I mean I’m loud too- BUT THAT’S BESIDES THE POINT!  _ Soon the table was spotted, and Jet headed into that direction.  _ Looks like an entire fucking rainbow.  _ Jet quietly chuckled to himself at how colourful their table was. Once he was within about 10 feet, Jet blurted out.

“Hedgehog!” Sonic turned, a smile on his face. The rest of his table and a few other students looked around as well.

“Oh, hey Jet! What’s up, man? Wanna come sit with u-” Jet cut of Sonic.

“I challenge you to a race!” Some random kids at other tables quietly laughed (as well as some of Sonic’s table too). Jet wasn’t phased by that though, his main focus was the race.

“A race?” Sonic said more in a rhetorical sense, his friends still laughing.

“Yeah, a race! On Extreme Gear! I’m going to prove to you that I am faster, once and for all!” Sonic looked at his friends, almost all of them enthusiastically nodding ‘yes’, besides Tails, who glaring at Sonic, shaking his head ‘no’.

“Uh, Jet, I don’t know about tha-” Sonic was interrupted by Amy who was still trying to hold back her laughter.

“No offense Jet, but how many times are you going to race Sonic before you realize that he’s obviously a better rider? I mean come on! You lost multiple Grand Prix’s to him, AND you have lost in races on the side. Face it, you won’t beat him.” Jet was a little taken aback by this, but tried to maintain the same amount of confidence. Sonic was honestly surprised by how rude Amy was, he knew she didn’t like Jet, but that was just mean.

“Jeez, Amy. Jet, I uh-” Even though Amy was harsh, she was right, Sonic couldn’t disagree with her. Two whole years of racing, and Jet rarely winning. Sonic liked to do them for fun, but Jet would take it way too far. Sonic looked at Jet, knowing he wasn’t going to back down. He let out a long sigh and continued.

“Jet- um . . . when?” Tails lightly hit Sonic on the back, and Jet was ecstatic. Jet quickly did a little bounce and hand flap, and just as quickly regained his composure.

“Today, after school!” Out of the corner of his eye, Jet could see Knuckles and Amy looking at him and talking to one another, but he did his best to ignore it and focus on Sonic.

“Um, I guess. I could run home during lunch and grab my Gear. Are you sure you want to race today? Maybe we can wait for a weekend or-” Whatever Sonic was about to offer was completely off the table when Knuckles stood up and shouted to the rest of the students 

“Extreme Gear race after school! Wanna see it, head to the track field!” A few kids hollered back, and both Sonic and Jet gave each other a weird look, neither of them sure if they wanted an audience.  _ Shit.  _ Jet lightly stimmed trying to calm down.  _ It’s alright Jet, an audience is even better! It’s not the first time you’ve had one. This way, you can beat Sonic, and it won’t just be word of mouth. This is totally better. Right?  _ The 5 minute warning bell rang, pulling Jet from his thoughts. Before Jet could even tell what was going on, Sonic waved walking past him.

"Well, race you later then" Jet blushed lightly, still not understanding why.  _ That asshole, I know he thinks he's better. It's so damn obvious, well he'll see. _

"JET! GET TO CLASS!" One of the lunch staff yelled. Jet flipped them off and walked to his Algebra II class.

\---

The whole day really didn't matter to Jet, he was just siked to finally be able to win against Sonic. Even during his break period he didn't do work, he was just focused on winning. Jet decided to call up Wave to tell her about the race. 

"Hey, Jet. What's up?" The sound of power tools and machines whirring echoed in the background.

"I think I'm finally going to be able to beat Sonic!" There was a silence for a moment. 

"Uhmm, what are you talking about? " She asked, sounding more concerned than anything. 

"I challenged him to a race after school! Apparently a lot of kids are gonna be there, so it's really my time to grace them with the glory that is the Legendary Wind Master." Jet said, giving himself an ego boost. 

"Jet, I'm not really sure that's the best idea." Wave knew that Jet would push himself too hard, but she also knew he wouldn't back down. Wave let out a sigh and started again. 

"Alright. I'll see if I can make it. You better not do anything stupid, or so help me!" Jet laughed at Wave's usual disapproval of his decisions.

"S-see ya then!" Before Wave could even respond Jet hung up the phone. 

_ You just wait hedgehog, I'll get you this time.  _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I try to keep things in character, but I know that with me adding disabilities, how he behaves might be a little out of character. But yeah, the race is in the next chapter. Thanks for reading! <3


	3. To prove oneself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The race begins! The two battle it out in the air, and just as they approach the finish, something goes awry.

The school day was finally over. Jet booked it out of his leadership class, and made his way to the main office to grab his board. Upon entering the mainly empty room, Ms. Vega stared in confusion on why Jet seemed to be in such a rush.

“Eh, what’s going on, mijo? You seem quite hurried today.” She stood up, confused. Jet brushed past her grabbing his gear.

“I’m g-g-gonna race-ce-ce Sonic!” Jet enthusiastically said.

“Here? Now!?” She stood there and watched Jet as he began to hurriedly leave the office, only responding with an ‘mhmm’ before completely existing the room. Ms. Vega tried to process everything and began to clear her desk in an attempt to try and make it.

Jet was walking towards the entrance to the track field, already able to hear a bunch of kids. Before he even made it in, Jet felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch. He turned around to see Wave and Rouge.

“What the hell is the matter with you? Of all of the things you could’ve done today, you challenged Sonic to a race at school? You know how you get when you lose. If you do, you know how you’ll act! Having all of these kids here is such a shitty idea!” Wave was trying her best to convince Jet to not race, but for some reason it only edged him on more.

“Wave, I’m f-fine! And bes-bes-besides, I-I’m not gonna lose!” Jet was beginning to get slightly pissy, and it was pretty obvious to both Wave and Rouge. Before Wave could interject again, Sonic yelled over to the three.

“Jet, ya comin’ to race?” Sonic was enthusiastically waving Jet over. Jet raised his hand in response to signify that he was heading over. Before he could, Rouge lightly grabbed his wrist.

“Hon, I’m really not sure this is the best of ideas. I know you want to prove yourself, but you’re clearly not in the right state to be racing.” She gave a genuine look of concern. Jet brushed it off, pulling his wrist away and began to head to the field.

“See ya when I come out victorious!” Wave and Rouge looked at eachother, both of them getting a bad feeling.

Sonic quickly walked to Jet who was still entering the track field. He got kind of into Jet’s bubble, but Jet tried his best to ignore it and just get to the starting point. 

“Soooo, ya ready? To be honest, I was kinda hesitant about racing you at first, but it’s usually fun anyway! But, you know if you want to hang out, we don’t have to just race. There are lots of fun things we can do! Like pla-” Sonic was interrupted by Jet’s shrilly voice that only got worse when he was high off of an ego boost (and the thought of winning definitely was one).

“Listen, Hedgehog- I’m here to win! I am  _ here  _ to prove that I am once and for all, the better Extreme Gear rider!” Sonic was going to respond, but they had quickly made it to the starting point, in the middle of the football field, and were immediately met with Knuckles’ booming voice.

“Alright, now that the participants are here, let me explain the route! You two will start and end here! Once you take air, you’re going to pass over the baseball and the soccer field, take a right into the town, fly above Emerald Cafe, that one run down thrift store, the Mac’s on 53rd, then you are going to go through the short tunnel by the skate park, above the nature reserve, and that should end you right back here.” Both Jet and Sonic were struggling to remember the course.

“ ‘Kay. Do you got that?” Even though neither of them were 100% sure if they had, they nodded anyway. 

“Welp, that’s that then! On the count of 3, you can start!” Knuckles backed away. Multiple students could be heard yelling Sonic’s name in support, but one stuck out to Jet, he could hear someone yelling “BOSS!” in the crowd. He turned and saw a very happy Storm on the bleachers, and next to them were Wave and Rouge. Jet smiled to himself and put his goggle’s down.  _ Alright Jet, you got this! You were born to ride. Today is no different.  _ He took a deep breath in and looked at Knuckles, or as much of Knuckles he could see, the sun was in that direction, making it a little hard. 

**“1 . . .”**

Sonic and Jet started walking back a little bit to get enough build up.

**“ 2 . . .”**

“Good luck out there, Jet!” Sonic smiled, giving him a thumbs up.

“I don’t need luck, Hedgehog!” Jet turned away, taking one final breath in.

**“3!”**

The two ran, quickly hopping on their gear and heading into the air. The yells of the students filled the air as they took off. Jet could feel the adrenaline pumping through his body, only making him slightly shaky. Sonic on the other hand was just glad to have the wind against his face, it was a nice change of scenery seeing the view from above. Things were going quite smoothly for the both of them, Jet was very slightly ahead of Sonic, making him as happy as he could possibly be. They were lucky it was a nice day. The sun was shining, it wasn’t hot, it was a decently warm day, and with the wind blowing on them, it wouldn’t have mattered either way. Jet sped over both the baseball and soccer field, taking a sharp right to head in the direction of the strip mall up ahead. Sonic decided that it was time to start speeding it up a little bit, while of course he loved the scenery, it wouldn’t have mattered much since most of the next part of the ride would just be looking down on the beige rooftops of the town. Even though he had continuously checked behind him, Jet wasn’t expecting Sonic to speed a few feet ahead of him.  _ How the hell!? He was so far behind just a second ago.  _

“Better hurry it up Jet, we’re approaching the cafe!” Sonic laughed to himself, just having a good time. Jet on the other hand was fuming. He took that as more of a competition than just some friendly banter. Jet began to speed up, and it didn’t take long before he was right on Sonic’s tail. Once they had just gone above the cafe, neither of them remembered which way to go, the only thing they remembered was the tunnel. Sonic turned off left, knowing a different route, while Jet stayed on his version of the route, picking up speed once more.  _ Stupid hedgehog doesn’t even know the right way. Maybe I should tell him- Ah, who am I kidding, his loss is my win!  _ Jet entered the tunnel and was surprised to see Sonic in front of him.  _ What the fuck?  _ Sonic looked behind him, and was happy to see Jet made it in the tunnel not too long after him. Seeing Sonic so far upfront made Jet go even faster, he knew he was starting to push his gear a little too hard, he could tell by the way it rode, it became a lot more bumpy, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. That little extra boost pushed him far enough to be ahead of Sonic when they exited the tunnel. The two were changing the person in front rapidly as the school came into view. Sonic gave it one last final boost to make it to the end goal, sending him rocketing ahead of Jet. Even though he knew that he really shouldn’t push his gear any further, Jet was dead set on winning. He took it to the highest possible speed it could go. The gear began shaking profusely, and Jet could’ve sworn he heard Wave yelling, but couldn’t make out what she said. Jet passed Sonic last second, but before he could reach the finish, his gear gave out. He tried his best to ride it down, but there’s only so much someone can do with no more power. About 15 feet above the ground, the gear slipped from under Jet’s feet, sending him plummeting to the ground.  _ Shit, shit, shit,  _ **_shit!_ ** Jet heard Sonic yell his name before he hit the ground.

\---

While he didn’t lose consciousness, it still hurt to open his eyes. He could hear multiple people running up to him.

“Holy shit, Jet, are you alright!?” Sonic said, hopping off of his gear and quickly making his way over. Jet started to open his eyes, and immediately noticed the deep, aching pain in his right arm. Sonic crouched down near him, also wincing at the clearly misshapen arm.

“JET!” “BOSS!” “What the hell is wrong with you?” “Boss, are you okay?” “Hon, let me see that!” Jet looked over to see Storm, Wave, and Rouge rushing over.

“Dude, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to- I uh- shit . . . are you okay?” Sonic looked at Jet concerned, but Jet gave no response.  _ Don’t fucking do it, don’t do it, if you tic, you are going to regret it.  _

“Jet, come on, let me see your arm” Wave sat down next to him looking at it. It seemed to only be broken in just one place, but she couldn’t be too sure.

“Alright, come on Jet, we’ve got to get you to Urgent Care. Do you need help up?” Jet sat there, still not saying anything, trying his best to not tic. Everyone stood there a little confused on what was happening. Suddenly, it clicked for Rouge, but Wave was already doing the last helpful thing (even though she didn’t mean it).

“Hey, Jet ar-” She only lightly touched Jet’s shoulder, but that was what broke his ability to hold his tics back. He had one really large one, that was unfortunately in his right arm, causing a painful cry to exit him. Since he was already in such pain, he decided to start getting up. Random sounds, words, and phrases left Jet’s mouth, in an attempt to focus all tics to be verbal instead of physical. Sonic sat there confused as Rouge began walking the Babylon Rogues to her car to take Jet to the U.R.

_ Once again, I’m the loser. You win, Hedgehog _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope you enjoyed the much longer chapter. Shout out to the Son/Jet community, there's like 3 of us. Anyway, thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day <3  
> (Also, I'm still figuring out how to navigate ao3, so if something seems off, that's probably why)


	4. Strange feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jet returns to school the next day, but that doesn't last very long. Back at home, he begins to question his feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, the r-word is used in this chapter! While it is censored, if even that is too uncomfortable, plese skip this chapter,or at least the part before the "---". I myself am nerodiverent, and do not stand for the use of this word (even reclaim makes me uncomfortable, but if you're nd, you do you), but I am using it because it is a common word by bullies, especially against nd people.

The next day, Jet returns to the school. Wave and Rouge drove him there since they’re banning him from riding on his gear until he recovers. He felt like shit. His arm hurt like hell, which was extremely overstimulating, and to top that all off, almost every junior he passed in the hallway laughed at him. _Fucking loser._ Jet made his way into his advisory class, once he was at his seat, he just laid his head down on the table, not wanting to face anyone else. He humiliated himself, and now had to be surrounded by all of the people who saw. As more and more students walked into the class, he grabbed his tangle to try and stop thinking of his shame, also trying to prevent him from ticing again. The hoodie covered his cast, but it didn’t matter, everyone knew, he heard the snickers as people walked past him, he wasn’t an idiot. Advisory started, and Jet remained with his head down. The class was really just to do homework in, and he has a break period for that anyway. Jet could hear someone making some really annoying ‘ _pssst’_ sound, but he chose to ignore it. Or that was until a paper was thrown at his head and the kid up ahead of him started whispering to him.

“Hey, dumbass! Hey, hey, attention here, fuckwad!” Jet slightly looked up, more pissed than anything. He gave no response.

“Awww, I’m sowwy, did I hurt you little feewings with my mean words? What are you gonna do, fall off your chair and break your other arm?” The kids' friends started laughing getting in on it, Jet just put his head back down, trying to keep his temper from rising anymore than it already was.

“Man, what kind of idiot decides to go up against someone who has already beaten you time and time again. What a fucking dumbass.” One of his friends chimed in. Jet bounced his leg up and down, biting his tongue, not trying to draw anymore attention towards himself. Then another one of his friends piped up as well.

“Guys, guys, be nice to him, you know he’s just some poor, defenseless . . .” The kid paused, trying to give the final word more leverage, Jet was on the last bit of patience he had left, and this kid broke it in one word,

“R-tard!” _That’s fucking it._ Just as the word escaped the kids mouth, Jet was already on the desk, about to sock the shit out of the kid in front of him, but he was quickly stopped by the teacher who ran up and was holding Jet back by his hood.

“HAWK! Principal's office, **RIGHT NOW**!” Jet got off of the table and grabbed his bag, as he was walking to the door, he kicked one of the kids in the side and ran out of the class and around the corner before the teacher could try and grab him again.

Jet was walking down the stairs when he was met by Sonic who was coming up them.

“Oh, Jet! Dude, I’m so sorry about yesterday. Are you alright? How’s the arm?” Sonic asked, genuinely sorry for the incident that took place, Jet just looked at him, already mad from the assholes in advisory, and now he had to think about his loss.

“I get it, Hedgehog! You won, again! Go ahead, gloat, shout about your victory, I don’t fucking care!” Jet started to walk past Sonic before the blue hedgehog started up again.

“What? Jet, I just want to make sure you’re okay. I don’t care about winning, I was just trying to have fun.” Sonic remained on the stair platform and Jet turned around, looking at Sonic.

“I know you’re a better person than me, I don’t need to hear it from the horse's mouth to get that!” Sonic stood there, he wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but he didn’t like it. Jet saw the look on Sonic’s face and got a strange feeling in his chest, but he decided to ignore it and headed to the main office.

Jet walked through the doors and sat down, his mind rushing a million miles a second. _What the hell was that about? Why do I feel like such shit? I don’t care if I hurt his feelings. So then why did it hurt to see him like that? He seemed genuinely upset. Who fucking cares if he’s upset, HE WON! Dammit!_ He sat there with his thoughts, the only other sounds being the buzzing from the light, some teacher printing papers in the back room. Jet was pulled from his thoughts when his phone chimed. He pulled it from his backpack and saw it was a text from Wave.

**_Wave:_ ** _School called, I’ll pick you up. You’re lucky that neither Rouge or I have work today._

Jet put his phone back instead of answering, he didn’t really feel up to it at the moment. A few vocal tics came out, but the people in the office were used to it. So many thoughts were going through Jet’s head- from Sonic, to that kid in class, and his broken arm that was making it hard to do much of his normal behaviour. With the amount of stress that was building up, he was afraid that he would either have a meltdown, or a tic attack soon, either one could happen, and the build up for both felt pretty similar, the main differences come right before it happens.

\---

Back at the blimp, Jet was getting an earful from Wave, who was telling him to stop trying to get into physical fight, and the occasional word from Rouge saying how stupid it was, but she understood the situation. 

“Listen, c-can I just head to my room, I real-really don’t feel the best.” Jet said, trying his best to get out of the ‘conversation’. It’s not that he felt ill (besides the arm ache), but that look Sonic gave him was really weighing down on his chest for some reason.

“No, Jet. I can’t have you doing this all the time! Especially at the moment with your broken arm! I get it, he shouldn’t have said that, and if I’m being honest, I would beat the shit outta-” Rouge put a hand on Wave’s shoulder, and Wave cleared her throat, regaining her composure. 

“My point is that you can’t be fighting classmates. I’m not talking the principal out of expelling you again.” Even though things seemed to be cooling off, Jet just wasn’t in the mood to be yelled at. Mid conversation, Jet just began walking to the bedroom, Wave yelling at him for being disobedient the whole time he did. Jet walking into the small room. It wasn’t anything special, especially since they all had to share it, so it looked so chaotically themed, but the inside of the bunks is where you would usually see each of their personalities come through. Unfortunately, Jet has the top bunk, which usually isn’t a problem, but since they don’t have a ladder, he can’t really pull himself up. Storm just happened to be walking down the hallway when they spotted Jet struggling to get up.

“You need any help there, boss?” Storm began to walk into the room.

“No, Storm, I’m fine it’ll just be a minAAHHHHH!” Jet shrieked as Storm picked Jet up, first giving him a hug, and then placing him on the top bunk. Once he was up on the bed, Jet turned to face Storm with a scowl on his face. 

“Sorry boss, I just know you’ll never ask for help, even if you need it. So I just thought I’d cut out the middle man, haha!” Storm smiled, knowing that they probably ticked Jet off, but they still did that for him out of care.

“See ya later then!” And just like that, Storm left the room, closing the curtain that replaced the door as they left. Jet layed down on his bed trying to forget everything that happened in the span of like 20 minutes. _Why the hell of all of the things that happened is that Hedgehog’s stupid face making me feel so weird!? It’s not the first time I’ve yelled at Sonic, and it definitely won’t be the last. He just seemed so upset. I didn’t even say anything that rude! Right? Shit, I can’t even remember what I said. Maybe I don’t feel bad- maybe- could I . . ._ **_hate_ ** _Sonic? I don’t think I do, but this feels weird, I don’t know what this is, but I don’t like it. It_ **_has_ ** _to be hate. Shit._

Jet remained in his head for hours after that. He still wasn’t sure why his stomach was in such knots, or why his heart felt so damn heavy, but all he knew is that he didn’t like it.

_Maybe I do hate that hedgehog after all . . ._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading. This chapter doesn't have as much going on, but I am also trying to do deeper looks into the boys' psyche as well, so, yeah. Yeah, Storm is non binary because I said so. And chapter production might slow down due to a new quarter starting tomorrow, but I'll try me best to update, it just might not be every day like it has been. Anyway, have a wonderful day <3


	5. Too many emotions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning that there is pretty detailed depictions of a meltdown, if that is triggering, I recommend avoiding this chapter as a whole.

It was the next day. Jet had just begun questioning his feelings a few hours ago, and had come to the conclusion that he has to hate Sonic. While he still questions this, since, he’s hated people before, and it didn’t feel like this- but he couldn’t think of anything else. Even if he hates Sonic, Jet’s pride is something that just never really seems to fade, and he came to school with the plan to challenge Sonic to another race. This time though, there wouldn’t be anyone else, just he and Sonic. He stopped caring if none of the other students knew, he just wanted to finally beat Sonic. Jet walked into the building, and because of Rouge being the only one with a car and having a chaotic work schedule, he came in a few minutes late. Not in any rush to make it to advisory, Jet aimlessly roamed the halls. The long hallways, covered in filth and grime from 1000+ students bustling through them every day. Even with all of the quiet that came with being in the halls during class, Jet still felt very overwhelmed. His stomach still felt twisted, his heart still layed heavy, and any time he thought about Sonic it would only get worse. And to top it all off, the stress of being publicly humiliated had a very crushing weight- that little tic attack or meltdown was coming really soon, and he could feel it starting to creep its way in- it wasn’t very far.

\---

Jet had just finished Algebra II, and only got a few kids laughing at him, so things seemed to be doing pretty okay for him. He didn’t have a class next, he had a break period that he got so that he could do work in a much more comfortable environment in the counselor's office. Since it was passing time, Jet took the opportunity to find Sonic who should’ve been getting out of his tech theater class, and Jet just happened to know this because he would like to make fun of Sonic for it. The theater room was on his way to the counselor's office anyway, so he decided to take that hallway instead. Through the crowd of people, it was pretty hard to miss the blue hedgehog. Jet pushed his way through, accidently slamming against his back, sending both of them toppling over to the floor.

“Dude, what the he- Oh, hey Jet! You alright?” Sonic asked starting to push himself back up, Jet quickly got up off the ground, lucky he didn’t fall on his arm, his heart was racing uncontrollably.

“Hedgehog! I ch-challenge you t-t-to another race!” Jet quickly blurted out, his voice cracking out at the end of his sentence, his stress levels rising a little too much.

“No Jet, I’m not going to race you. Listen, it’s fun, but you’re already hurt, and this is getting obsessive! You seriously need to calm down before you hurt yourself again.” The two of them were more against a wall at the moment, trying to avoid the crowd walking by.

“NO! Y-y-y-you don’t get it-it, I  _ need  _ to r-r-r-ra-ace you!” Usually when Jet talked to Sonic, his stutter would calm down a lot more, but he had gotten himself so worked up that everything felt as if it were moving so fast. Jet’s legs began to shake, there were too many people, Sonic was standing too close,  _ it’s loud, it’s so fucking loud!  _ Everything felt as if it were closing in. Sonic began to notice Jet’s strange behaviour and that he started to hyperventilate. 

“Jet, hey, you need to calm down-” Out of habit, Sonic tried to rest his hand on Jet’s arm, but that only made things worse. The light touch felt as if it were a million tiny needles stabbing into his arm repeatedly, Jet panicked, a loud shriek left him and he ran down the hallway, leaving Sonic extremely confused on what all had just happened.

\---

Jet had ran into the bathroom and locked himself in the largest stall at the end. Meltdown, definitely a meltdown. Even though the walls felt so close to him, it was the only place he could be in private. Jet paced, tears streaking down his beak, punching the walls, himself, and his backpack too. Walking became too much, and before he could even sit, a tic made his legs just stop working and he fell to the ground. He rocked back and forth, biting his arms, punching, doing anything he could to make all of it just go away.  _ Chaos, fuck, please make it stop, make it stop, make it STOP!  _ His mind was screaming, and all he wanted to do was slam his head into the tile wall, but he held himself bad with every bit of strength he had. He pulled at his feathers, his clothes, he couldn’t stop making random unintelligible sounds, even he was at the point where he wasn’t sure if he was actually trying to say something. Oftentimes, his meltdowns will last much longer, but if he’s in public, the thought of embarrassing himself somehow makes his body able to not have them as long, although that will have its effects later in the night, often resulting in a twitching, crying mess. To try and slowly come out of it, Jet curled up into a ball, wrapping his arms around his sides and put his head down into his legs. He remained in that position for what seemed like forever, his brain continuously repeating ‘make it stop’. Eventually, he had enough strength to get up off the floor and grab his bag. He pulled out his noise cancelling headphones, put them on, and slowly made his way to the counselor’s office.

Jet walked through the doors, and quickly made it to the table that he always sat at, once again alone, but he preferred it that way. Even though this period was for him to do work, he set his head down on the desk. After a meltdown, he often goes mute, so even if someone did ask him anything, he really wouldn’t be able to answer.  _ Why do I have to be like this? My head hurts, that’s what I get for punching the shit out of it I guess. How can that stupid Hedgehog always get me so worked up? He just looks at me and I feel my heart racing. I mean, hate him I guess, but this fucking sucks! He just had to do that on a day where I feel like shit. I wonder if kids are gonna make fun of me for tripping now, too. I mean, that would be better than being the fuck up I already am.  _ Jet sat there in his head for about 30 minutes before he had enough energy to attempt any work.

_ Guess you beat me on my emotions too, huh, Hedgehog? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Once again, no the most eventful chapter. It's quarter 3 now, and m tics are really bad today, so I couldn't write too much. Also, not everyone's meltdowns are like this (I think), this is just a lot like how mine go, but I have had some better and some worse than this, I was just trying to find some middle ground. Anyway, next chapter will be a Sonic POV! Aren't you guys lucky. Well, hope you have a wonderful day <3


	6. Are we actually talking?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic feels pretty bad about what conspired earlier that day, and just happens to meet up with Jet again in the counselor's office.

Sonic only had a few minutes left of his second period (Algebra II), and was waiting for the call to let him go to the counselor's office to pick up his slip to leave school early. Tails was going to the dentist today, and would not only need someone to take him home since he was drugged up, but the dentist was extremely overstimulating for him, and Sonic was his only comfort in that case. No amount of stim toys can help someone avoid the fact that they’re scraping away and pulling out things. Math was already not Sonic’s most focusable class, but the thought of what happened with Jet the hour prior was lingering on his mind.  _ I didn’t mean to do it! I should’ve remembered how Tails needs to be asked when he’s like that. But everyone’s different, how am I supposed to know? I know, genius- don’t touch people without asking under any circumstances. Man, he probably hates me now. First the race, and now  _ **_this?_ ** _ Maybe I shouldn’t tell him, at least not until he warms up a little bit more again. OR, you could never tell him because he clearly doesn’t feel the same! Maybe I should just-  _

“Sonic, Mr. Hull would like to see you in the counselor’s office.” Sonic was pulled from his thoughts by his teacher. He grabbed his bag and left the class, thanking his teacher on the way out. It was about a minutes walk to the counselor's office because of it being on the complete other side of the campus, which gave Sonic some time to be alone with his thoughts.  _ I mean, of all the people in the school, or even outside of it, you chose just the right one! It just had to be him, huh. Someone’s smart.  _ Sonic ended up staying out of his head to escape his sarcastic subconscious. He did really like Jet, even if he could be an ass. Sonic had been trying to make it as clear as he could without being too obvious, but he started picking up that Jet seems to not get subtlety all too well. The hallways acted as Sonic’s mind, long, looping, and confusing as hell if not already aware of the layout. He mentally went back and forth of whether or not he should just flat out say it to Jet. The doors to the counselor's office were only a few feet ahead, and as Sonic passed by one of the windows, he could see Jet inside doing schoolwork.  _ Speak of the devil.  _ Sonic walked into the counselor’s office and walked up to Jet, who didn’t see, to notice his presence. 

“Hello,  _ Hawk. _ ” Sonic laughed at his mocking of how Jet usually addresses him. Jet took off his headphones and looked up at Sonic, his smile making his face warm up.

“What are y-you doing here, Hedgehog?” Jet tried to have his usually snarkiness to it, but it only came out as mumbled and monotone. Sonic saw just how exhausted Jet looked, and his expression quickly changed to one of concern.

“Shit, dude, are you doing alright?” Sonic pulled out one of the chairs and sat down at the table.

“I don’t think that-that’s any of your business.” The room was awfully quiet, making the awkward conversation even more awkward, making Sonic a little bit on edge, but he tried to maintain his front.

“Listen man, I just want to make sure you’re okay. You freaked me out a little bit back there. Is that why you’re in . . . here?” Sonic couldn’t stop staring at Jet, just trying to find some sort of clue of what was going through his mind, but Jet looked so blank at that moment it was impossible. 

“No. Well- not entirely. I w-would’ve headed here anyway after that, but this is my break period.” Sonic chuckled, not really sure what Jet was talking about.

“Break period? What does that mean?” Jet let out a sigh, tired of explaining this to so many people (mainly teachers).

“B-because I struggle so hard in class, and get overstimulated real-l-ly quickly, I use this period to c-catch up on what I miss-miss-missed.” Sonic took a moment to fully process what all was being said to him, and then started up again.

“So, uhhh . . . I hope you don’t mind my asking, but- What exactly do you have? NO JUDGEMENT, or anything, promise. I’ve just noticed little  _ quirks  _ you’ve had ever since I’ve known you, and I was just curious. You don’t have to tell me of course, that’s personal, I get it. But I would never make fun of you for it, promise! I understand what it’s like, I’ve got ADHD, and Tails has Autism, so I’m kinda up to date on a lot of things. I also wear hearing aids, but that’s unrelated, huh? Aaaand, I am rambling, I’m sorry.” The speed of which all of that came out shocked Jet, but it wasn’t the first time he’s seen it, Sonic has gone off on tangents before, especially if it’s things he’s passionate about. Jet took a second to respond, slowly warming up a little bit more.

“If you must know, Hedgehog, although it is none of y-y-your business, I happen to have Tourette’s and a-am Autistic.” Jet fidgeted under the table, trying to avoid looking back over at Sonic. A chuckle escaped Sonic as he spoke again.

“Man I wish I knew that earlier, I might have not handled the situation so poorly if I knew. But I also understand that I should never assume, and just be more cautious about my actions.” Just before Jet could respond, one of the counselor’s walked out of their rooms.

“Hello, boys! Here ya go, Sonic. Hope everything goes smoothly!” Mr. Hull handed Sonic the slip and walked back into his office. Jet looked over, confused on what the pink paper was. Luckily, Sonic answered that question for him pretty quickly without him even asking.

“It’s a slip so I can leave early. Tails is going to the dentist today, and I’m like his support hedgehog. I am also his very cool brother, sooooo.” Sonic laughed, returning from his dramatic pose, his outlandish ‘performance’ even making Jet smile ever so slightly.

“I-I guess those theater classes are wearing off on ya?” Jet said, Sonic looking over, still smiling, but with a confused look plastered on his face.

“How did you know I’m in tech theater?” Sonic stared at Jet, and Jet immediately internally facepalmed. 

“I- uh- ummm . . . hehe . . .”  _ I swear, he’s gonna make me ugly laugh.  _ Sonic found it hilarious that Jet clearly paid attention to what classes he had, Jet on the other hand, did not find the humour in it, and was extremely embarrassed that he’d just been ‘caught’. The bell rang, startling both of them. Sonic sighed and pulled out a pen. He began to write on the top of one of Jet’s papers. Jet was throwing a fit, which only made Sonic laugh even more. He finished up and Jet snatched the paper, he looked at it to see a phone number.

“Listen, you might not want it, but if you ever need someone to talk to, just shoot me a text!” Jet looked at Sonic, completely flustered, his stomach getting that strange feeling again.

“I-” He was cut off by Sonic who was already quickly heading out of the room.

“Sorry, gotta run. Can’t keep Tails waiting. See ya tomorrow, Speed Racer!” Sonic chuckled, jogging out of the office, and then out of the building. A smile remained on Sonic’s face, he actually had a normal conversation with Jet, and he was ecstatic.

_ Maybe this means he might actually like me after all. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Once again, not the most adventurous of chapters (the next few ones are gonna be a little bit slower paced I think, since it's more of a development of character), but that's okay! I had fun writing a little bit more of Sonic's perspective of things, and have it planned to do it on another chapter soon. Sorry the chapter was so sort, tics are still pretty bad, and my mental is a little rough right now, but I will still try to keep posting at it's regular schedule (one a day). Anyway, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day <3


	7. So oblivious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the car ride home, Jet tells Wave and Rouge about how he thinks he might hate Sonic, their reaction was less than enjoyable for Jet.

Jet waited at the front of the school to be picked up. The events of today played through his head like a movie.  _ How can a day go from such shit, to being okay? And with the same person. But- I hate Sonic, don’t I? I mean, I still felt the same, even stronger today, but that wouldn’t make any sense. I had a good time, I enjoyed talking to him. So why do I still feel so . . . weird?  _ Jet looked up and just kind of took in his surroundings. He still felt the weight and tiredness from the meltdown, but he felt kind of happy. Sonic had really cheered him up, but he was still so conflicted on his feelings. It was a decently warm day, nothing too special, but the sun starting to set made the light shine so nicely through the trees, or how, even though it was a high school, it was pretty quiet once everyone left. Moments like these made Jet happy, yeah, he could be grumpy, and kind of an asshole, but he loves nature, and the outdoors. Nothing is like the rush from riding his gear, just being able to take in all of the sights. When he’s not being competitive, riding on Extreme Gear can be extremely relaxing, and if one is in another mood, extremely fun. 

The mood was killed when Rouge’s car sped into the parking lot, followed by the sound of Waves’ music blaring through the speakers. Jet begrudgingly stood up and grabbed his bag. Once the car pulled around and stopped, Jet opened the door and sat inside. Wave turned off her music, not only so she could talk to Jet, but also to be considerate of his sensory processors. 

“Hey, Jetski! How was school today?” Wave turned around as best she could as Rouge continued driving back to the blimp. 

“Ummm, good, b-but also bad? Not sure. I-I had a short melt-meltdown, but . . . then things got a little better.” Jet smiled at the last part of his sentence thinking about Sonic, but he then dropped it again when he remembered his confusion for his feelings.

“Oh, Hon, you should have called me, I woulda been able to get off for a few minutes. Work’s been awfully slow recently.” Rouge spoke up. Jet didn’t really want to think about it.

“I-It’s fine. Like I said, th-things g-g-got better!” He was being sincere, but it felt like a lie at the same time. His head was so scrambled, he wasn’t sure what was going on. All he could do was sit there and stare at Wave and Rouge’s hands intertwined with one another's, resting on the center console. 

“Well then Jet, what was the good part of your day?” Wave asked, glad that at least something was going her brothers’ way. 

“I- um, well I - maybe . . .  _ I think I hate Sonic! _ ” Jet was going to actually say how he had a good time with Sonic, but his mind was stuck on the fact that he could have a moment like that with someone he was certain he hated, he just didn’t understand it.

“What?” Both Wave and Rouge said in unison, both of them not only confused of where this sudden outburst came from, but also what happened to make Jet think that.

“Uh, would you mind elaborating on that, Jet?” Wave slowly mustered out, still trying to process what all was happening with the conversation.

“I d-d-don’t know really. It’s just that - UGH! H-how the hell am I s-s-supposed to ex-ex-explain this!?” Already being exhausted, Jet’s patience for much of anything wasn’t very great- this being no exception.

“Okay, well, did something happen between you two? You’ve never really shown much of this attitude for Sonic before. Sure there was a rivalry, and a little bit of jealousy, but  _ hate  _ is a really strong word, dear.” Rouge interjected once more. She was honestly confused by how any even  _ could  _ hate Sonic, he really didn’t have much of any unlikable traits, at least not in Rouge’s eyes. Jet kind of sat in his head for a little bit.  _ Do I even hate Sonic? I mean, usually you can’t get along with someone you hate, but today was nice, and there’ve been times before that too.  _

“I’m not entirely sure, it’s just- he makes me feel . . . weird?” Wave began to smile, having a feeling where the conversation was going. Rouge was beginning to pick up what Wave was assuming just by the look on her face.

“ ‘Weird’ you say? What do you mean by that?” Wave was trying her best to contain her laughter. Jet was able to tell she found something funny, but couldn’t tell exactly what that was.

“I just mean that- well- it’s not that I haven’t always felt like this a-around him, but it’s just gotten worse re-re-recently.” He looked out of the window, not really sure if he even wanted to explain to Wave why he thinks he hates Sonic.

“And those feelings arrrre?” Rouge lightly smacked Wave’s arm, making Wave let out a slight chuckle, swatting her back. This was usual behaviour for the two, but Jet just felt like something else was going on, even if the actions weren’t out of character for either of them.

“Well, every time I think about him, or he looks at me, talks to me, or even if I just see him s-smiling, I get this strange f-f-feeling! It’s like, m-my-my face gets really warm, and my stomach knots up, and I get a weird heavy feeling in my heart. Like physically, I can feel something, i-it’s strange.” It was at this moment that not only Wave, but Rouge too, burst into laughter. Neither of them could get over just how obvious it was to them, and yet such a foreign concept to Jet. This reaction made Jet pretty pissed off; he’d just explained something to Wave that she was pushing him to say, and now she was mocking him?

“F-fuck you guys!” Jet slumped back in his seat, crossing his arms, trying to ignore the pair still laughing in the front half of the car. Rouge tried to regain her composure to try and affirm Jet that they weren’t ‘technically’ making fun of him, but she was struggling to pull herself together.

“Oh, shit. Hon-” She laughed once more. “Listen, it’s totally okay to feel that way, but I’ll tell you something right now, that isn’t hate, you have-” Rouge burst into another fit of laughter. Jet flipped the both of them off and put his noise cancelling headphones on, staring out of the window.

_ What the hell do they know? What does it matter. They’re clearly the worst people I probably could’ve told this to- EVEN STORM WOULD’VE BEEN BETTER! And they are kinda shit when it comes to conversations. They’re definitely more of a physical person. But, it’s not like I have anyone else to talk to, I don’t even really have friends, unless Storm and Wave count, but they’re my siblings. Rouge? No, she’s just kinda family I guess. Treats me like I’m five anyway. So, I guess this is what I’ll have to deal with then.  _ Jet let out a sigh, staring at the sights as they passed by. The blimp was so out of place, which usually wasn’t a problem, but without being able to ride his gear, it was much,  _ much  _ longer of a ride.  _ Damn speed limits.  _ The shops and stores were a blur as they sped down the road. Eventually the buildings began to become fewer and fewer as it became more of rolling hills. The sun was pretty far set by this point, it was still somewhat bright out, but it was to the point where things were a more red and purple tint. Even though Jet felt kind of shitty, the sunset put him at ease, gave him just one more thing to smile at. They began to approach the blimp, and things were so serene, the day was coming to an end.

_ It seems that you’ll continue to remain a mystery to me, Hedgehog . . . for now at least. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope you enjoyed. Sorry that this chapter takes place in a car and that's it, but I thought that this was a pretty decent chapter for one that's mainly dialogue. Oh, Jet, you are so oblivious. Also, I'll try and add more Wave and Rouge scenes, because I think they're adorable too. And I kinda messed up one of the nerves in my hand, so on top of everything else, I might be even slower at typing, and they might be shorter chapters, sorry. While the Babylon Rogues might not be related by blood or parents, they love eachother like siblings, soooo. Anyway, thank you for reading. Have a wonderful day <3


	8. Maybe too close?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jet and Sonic have been getting even closer, but Jet doesn't seem to understand why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up that Jet does have a tic attack close to the end of the chapter! It's not in detail, but if that's triggering in any sort of way, I recommend either skipping the last two (?) paragraphs, or skipping the chapter completely!

Jet returns to school the next day, his arm covered in sore bruises from biting them during a meltdown. He entered the school doors with his usual half pissed off expression plastered on his face, even though he still felt pretty giddy from the day prior. Just before Jet was about to go and wait outside of his advisory class to try and get away from the chaos that was the cafeteria, Sonic came up to Jet, practically skipping.  
  


“Hiya, Jet!” Jet stopped and turned to the taller teen.

“Hedgehog.” His heart rate sped up once more, but this time a little bit faster. He felt a little bit more airy that he usually did around Sonic, a little more of stomach knots. _We had a fine interaction yesterday. So why do I still hate him!?_ Jet’s face slightly heated up. _And why is it seeming to get worse?_

“Whatchya doin’? Heading to your advisory I assume? You know, if you ever want, you could always hang out with me at _my_ table.” Sonic chuckled, a slight blush resting on his mussel. 

“And get r-ridiculed by all of your friends? No, thank you.” Jet’s good mood started to wear off the more he thought about the public opinion of him. Sonic rubbed the back of his head, realizing that his friends really didn’t like Jet.

“Heh, sorry, I shouldn’t have offered. Amy can be pretty brutal sometimes.” Sonic trailed off for a second before starting back up again.

“Do you want me to walk to your advisory with you? Not that I think you’re incapable or anything, I was just curious. It’s totally okay to say ‘no’!” Jet watched as Sonic quickly sputtered his words, trying to quickly say the sentence, seemingly embarrassed. Luckily for Sonic, Jet couldn’t see his blush darkening.

“You’re r-right, Hedgehog, I don’t need assistance. But . . . you could walk with me if ya really want.” Jet’s strange feelings began to increase again, making him feel sick. Sonic was really happy that Jet agreed to walking together. Sonic’s table on the other hand was really confused on where he wandered off to.

The two bounded down the hallways, Sonic practically bouncing off the walls, and Jet stiffly walking. Sonic was mainly the one talking, seemingly never running out of topics. Jet just watched him, seeing Sonic talk just made him smile internally. He wasn’t sure why watching Sonic casually talking to him made him happy, but it did. And if Jet was being honest, Sonic talking helped him forget about how his body seized up around him, or how humiliated he was, even his broken arm and body constantly wanting to tic seemed so distant when all of his focus was on the babbling hedgehog. Sonic was just so happy to be able to hang around Jet more. All he wanted was to get closer, but could see the wall that Jet put up, making it hard to. They had finally made it to Jet’s advisory class, and Sonic spoke up once more.

“Sooo, do you think after school today you might wanna-” 

**_RIIIIIIIIING!_ **The warning bell went off, interrupting what Sonic was going to say. Both boys were a little upset by that.

“What were you gonna ask?” Jet asked, picking at his cast.

“Oh, uh, it’s not important. See you in P.E.!” Sonic quickly said before sprinting off down the hallway to his advisory. Jet let out a sigh, his body relaxing a little bit from Sonic being away, only for a different stress of other students causing him to feel like shit again.

\---

After 2 periods and lunch, it was time for P.E., which Sonic and Jet just happened to have with one another. Jet walked into the locker room and headed into one of the stalls with his backpack in hand. He locked the door and pulled out his gym clothes: a t-shirt with the school's logo on it, and sweatpants. Changing with only one arm had proved itself to be quite difficult, often resulting in a very frustrated Jet. The worst part was trying to take off his boots. They could slide off, but being able to use two hands was much easier. And then the main goal when putting on pants was to not fall over. Things were just a little bit harder, which really got on Jet’s nerves, so much was already hard for him, and changing shouldn’t have been one of them. He finally got fully dressed down and walked out, putting his bag in one of the small baskets, quickly putting a lock on. Even though he would often hang back and grab some cash out of kids’ bags, he didn’t want it happening to him. Just as he was about to turn around, Sonic lightly pushed Jet’s shoulder yelling ‘BOO!’, while the push wasn’t hard, the shock it gave Jet was enough to cause him to flinch, his head colliding with the baskets.

“Shit!” Jet turned around, rubbing his head. Sonic was trying his best to hold in a laugh.

“I-I’m, so sorry, that was not my intention.” Even though Sonic said he would work on unwanted touching, he couldn't help but not scare people, he just found it so amusing. Jet rolled his eyes and began to head out into the gym.

After doing role, the teacher told them to do laps around the court for about 10 minutes. Jet groaned, he hated doing laps, and with his arm, the motion kind of hurt. Sonic very quickly ran up to Jet and started jogging with him. If the jogging wasn’t enough to make Jet’s heart race, Sonic being there sure was.

“Sonic, I kn-know you can go-g-go faster. What are you doing b-back here?” Both the sound of a bunch of people running, the music blaring, and exercising in general usually made Jet’s tics spike a lot, just one more reason for this class to be hell.

“Awwww, don’t be like that. I have no problem slowing down for someone. But, you do go like . . . really slow haha!” Sonic let out a laugh, half out of not being able to go as fast as usual, and the other half being that he didn’t want to make it seem like he was making fun of Jet for being a bad runner. Even if Jet also had no problem with being bad at running, he was still pretty self conscious about how he looked while doing it. Mr. Confidence wasn’t all so confident when it came to his appearance, especially when it was exercising. The two of them continued jogging with one another for the full 10 minutes, Jet did fall behind a little bit, but even then, Sonic still slowed down for him, even if that made him ancy. The rest of the class went something like that- Jet falling behind on the activity and Sonic trying his best to stay at a similar pace. A few kids gave the two of them weird looks, seeing as Jet wasn’t very well liked by really anyone there. 

\---

After an hour and a half, class was finally over. Everyone rushed to the locker room, but Jet stayed behind so as to not get caught up in the crowd. Sonic also stayed behind, even though he liked getting into the locker room earlier so he could get a head start heading to the last period of the day. Jet’s strange feelings had only gotten worse the more he hung around Sonic. Usually, being around Sonic helped his tics, but his heart racing so much made him a ticing, and stimming, flustered mess. The two walked into the locker room, heading to their normal changing spots: Sonic by some locker, and Jet in the stalls. Inside of the stall, Jet begins to have a mini freakout. _Why is he being so nice to me? And why can’t I just reciprocate it? Is it because I’ve never had friends? I mean, this doesn’t make any sense. Why is some dumb hedgehog getting me so worked up!? He is too nice, maybe he is plotting something. Maybe he is just getting close to me to lower down my defenses, and then when I am healed up enough to race again, he’ll tear me to shreds. Not if I get you first, Hedgehog._ Jet finished changing, grabbed his backpack and stormed out into the mostly empty locker room. The only people in there being Sonic and some group of 3 about to leave.

“Hedgehog!” Sonic turned around to see Jet with _that_ look on his face, and immediately sighed.

“Hedgehog, I challenge you to a rematch!” At this point, Sonic was beginning to get worried on why these races were so important. He didn’t understand why Jet couldn’t just have fun with it.

“Dude, you’ve gotta stop asking, I’m not gonna race you!” Sonic began to slightly raise his voice, and him saying that made Jet even more mad.

“Wh-whyy the hell not-t-t!? You’ve d-don-done it so many times before. Why s-s-stop now!?” Jet’s tics were getting noticeably worse, Sonic tried his best to keep himself from escalating the situation.

“Jet, don’t get me wrong, I like racing you, but you’re hurt. And until you heal, I refuse to race you! Why can’t you just have fun with it? Why the hell is winning so important!?” Even though he tried to keep his cool, Sonic let his voice slip a little, and he ended up saying that much louder than intended.

“Because racing is all I’m good at!” Jet practically screamed at Sonic, tears threatening to escape his eyes. Sonic was completely taken aback by this.

“You don’t fucking get what it’s like to constantly have to prove yourself to others!” Jet was lightly bouncing, his tics getting more and more severe.

“Jet . . .” Sonic said in a very quiet voice, the conversation genuinely starting to upset him.

“You can just pick up something that I’ve spent my whole life on and _beat me at it_ like it’s nothing! This is all I've ever known, all I’ve e-ever been good at!” His voice began to crack. Sonic was going to say something before Jet spoke up once more.

“I can’t be Mr. Perfect like you! I-I’m not good at anything else but r-r-rac-racing! Nobody even fu-fucking likes me!” Jet began to hyperventilate once more.

“And f-f-f-for some fucking reason, all I want to do is prove to **_you_ **that I’m good enough!” Sonic watched in shock as Jet slowly slid down the locker and began to convulse on the floor, punching and hitting random things. The stress had caused Jet to go into a tic attack, but Sonic didn’t know what they looked like, and was afraid Jet had slipped into a seizure.

  
 _Chaos, why here? Why now!? Why in front of_ **_him!?_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry I didn't post for 2 days, my tics were making me hit my head a lot and I just am not in the moos to write when I'm like that + I have an eye condition, so my head was just all around hurting a lot. But my hand is better now, and I'm back to writing. I know Jet just had a meltdown, but I often have the two pretty close together, especially if I was trying my best to cut a meltdown down short. I hope you enjoy the longer chapter, too! Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day <3


	9. Silent agreement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic helps calm down Jet. And Rouge is as nosy as ever.

It took Sonic a second to remember that Jet has Tourette’s, and it clicked for him that this could just be a really bad tic attack. To try and prevent Jet from possibly hurting himself, Sonic grabbed anything that was lying near him and moved it away. He wasn’t all too sure if he was supposed to get someone, or if what he was even supposed to do with Jet. There was a window in tic attacks for Jet that they very slightly calmed down right before it could get a lot worse, Jet took that opportunity to try and pull himself out of the attack, it had been successful a few times before, and luckily, this was another one of those times. Jet stopped the violent motions and pushed them as far down as he possibly could, and remained on the floor, still trembling. After a few moments, Jet wiped his face dry and sat up against the lockers.

“Dude, are . . . are you okay?” This was the first time Sonic had seen Jet actually cry, and the first time he’d ever seen a tic attack. Sonic wasn’t going to get the response he wanted though because after an episode, Jet’s stutter was so bad if he even tried to talk, he was essentially mute for a while after. After waiting for a response and not getting one, Sonic had assumed he’d just gone mute. He understood, he knew Tails would do that sometimes, and, while pretty rare, Sonic has also had his own experience with it happening. 

“I, um- Is there anything I can do? Do you need me to get someone or?” Sonic stared at Jet, he looked so fragile, like he knew it too, and that only made him feel worse. Jet thought for a minute about what he did want. While usually having people there with him while he was cooling down was overwhelming, but something about Sonic’s presence felt different. He still had the knots in his stomach, but he just felt more okay with Sonic being there. Jet lightly patted the ground right next to him, trying to signify non verbally, asking Sonic to sit next to him. The blue hedgehog stood for a second to register what Jet wanted, but once he did, he quickly went and sat next to Jet. He wasn’t sure why, but Sonic just made him feel so much more comfortable, even if he was completely humiliated from having an attack in front of someone other than Wave, Storm, or Rouge, Sonic felt different. Without even realizing it, Jet rested his head on Sonic's shoulder. Sonic sat still, his face burning hot. The two remained like that for a little bit longer before Sonic really needed to get to his next class.

\---

After Sonic left for class, Jet texted Wave.

**_Jet:_ ** _Wave, could you pick me up?_

 **_Wave:_ ** _You good? Isn’t there like only one more period?_

 **_Jet:_ ** _Yeah._

_But I kinda had another attack._

_Besides, it’s only leadership._

_It’s not like I attend that class anyway._

**_Wave:_ ** _Uhhh_

_I can call Rouge to come and get you._

_She should be there in like 15 minutes, since she’s on break._

**_Jet:_ ** _Thanks._

 **_Wave:_ ** _Np <3 _

Jet puts his phone in his backpack and walks out of the doors waiting on the steps. You’re supposed to wait in the office if someone’s picking you up, but he just needed some fresh air. Two really sucky days in a row, just Jet’s luck. _I can’t believe I had an attack in front of Sonic! Of all people, of course it was him. I mean, it was nice just sitting there, but it wasn’t? Why the hell can’t I just make up my mind!? Either hate him or don’t because you can’t have both!_ Jet deeply exhaled. Just thinking of Sonic got him feeling like that again. Right before Jet was about to dive into his mind once more, Rouge’s car pulled into the parking lot, and stopped at the steps. Jet got up and hopped into the passenger's seat immediately greeted by Rouge’s concerned face.

“Awww, sweetheart, I’m so sorry you had another crappy day. How are you feeling right now? Are ya mute right now, or can ya talk?” She started driving back to the blimp, which meant talking the entire car ride there

“I-I-I’m-I’m just gl-gl-glad to go ho-m-me.” Jet looked out the window, his stutter making talking physically tasking.

“I know, I know. Did something happen that caused the attack? Or was it just a build up thing?” Rouge looked back and forth, from the road to Jet, trying to make sure he was doing okay.

“Ma-may-maybe caused b-by-by a tiny argu-u-ment. Or j-just from y-y-yesterd-d-day’s m-meltdown.” There was barely any silence before Rouge spoke.

“Argument? What do you mean? Were you getting into another fight? Jet you literally just got into one the othe-” Rouge was cut off by Jet, who slightly raised his voice.

“I d-d-didn’t ge-get into another-er-er fight! I j-just got mad-m-mad at Sonic!” He sunk back into his seat, trying to calm himself down with a stim toy.

“Mad at Sonic? What happened this time?” Rouge looked over at the teen, confused. 

“I don-don’t know. I j-just yelled a-a-a-at him.” Jet felt bad about yelling at Sonic. He thought that there was some kind of ulterior motive, but once again, he was wrong. And got pretty much instant karma for that.

“Has Sonic been bothering you a lot lately? I know you talked about the whole ‘hating him’ thing, but not much outside of that.” She held back a chuckle when she mentioned the ‘hate’ things, she found it funny that she knew before he did.

“N-no? I d-don’t think so. Yester-d-d-ay was kinda nice, t-t-talk-talking to him.” Rouge raised an eyebrow, not hearing about the good part of the previous day.

“Oh yeah? What all did you talk about?” She was trying her best to be unnoticeably nosy, and lucker for her, Jet was pretty bad with reading signals.

“J-just small talk r-r-really, but-but it was n-nice.” Jet looked down, thinking about how nice Sonic had been to him, a smile creeping up on his face, his heart starting to race once more.

“Y’all didn’t talk about anything else? I mean, I’m glad it was nice, but . . .” Rouge trailed off, not really sure where she was trying to go with her point.

“P-pre-pretty much. After that he g-g-gave me his num-number if I-I ‘ever n-n-n-need-needed someone to t-t-talk to’.” A smile crept onto Rouge’s face, she had to figure out a way to work a few things out between the two, because to her, it was crystal clear what the situation was.

“Well, did ya text him?” Jet chuckled at that.

“No, w-why would I? H-he said if I n-n-need some-someone to talk to. An-and I don’t-t.” Rouge pulled up at the blimp, hoping to continue the conversation, but Jet quickly unlocked the door and stepped out. 

“Th-thanks for driv-drving me.” He waved, Rouge tried to get out a few words before Jet left. 

“Wait, I-” She was cut off by the car door being closed and Jet walking inside. Once he finally entered the home, Jet threw his backpack to the ground and flopped on the couch to take a nap.

_Stupid Hedgehog keeps seeing me when I’m at my weak points. I’ve seriously gotta get better about that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Car fic 2.0 moments haha! This is a little bit of a slow chapter, but they're getting closer!!! I hope you guys understand, that when I tagged 'slow burn', I really meant it, I am dragging you guys along so hard, I'm so sorry. This was honestly kind of fun to write, and even the shoulder rest scene was even a little too cute for me, and I am the one who wrote that haha. I also tried something a little different with a text segment, and have another one planned in my outline for the next few chapters, so I'm sorry if you don't like the formatting, but it will be back! Anyway, thank you for reading, have a wonderful day <3


	10. Sudden realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jet's bored, home alone and does some researching of his own. The answers are not what he expected.

Jet woke up from his nap to find that he was still home alone. No one usually got off work until around 4:30 pm, so he’d have some time to himself. The teen aimlessly wandered around, trying to find something to do. There was always homework, but he really didn’t feel up to it. It was a Friday, and all Jet could do was walk basically circles. He didn’t want anything to do with school, he was never in the mood to eat, and he couldn’t ride his Extreme Gear. 

“Dammit!” Jet yelled out into the vacant home, his boredom beginning to stress him out. Once more, Jet found himself on the couch, his leg bouncing up and down.  _ I just had to have never picked up any other hobbies!  _ Even though Jet wasn’t a fan of the usual banter and commotion that took place, he sure did miss it when the place was empty. The creeks and hum of all of the mechanisms inside of the walls eventually faded out, letting Jet slip into his mind.  _ At least after having both a meltdown and tic attack in such a short span of time, I might not have either until next month. At least there’s a positive there. I mean, there was another positive, but you seem to get mad at it any time it tries to be nice. But why would he be so nice? And there’s that stupid fucking feeling again!  _ The rate at which Jet bounced his leg increased, as well as his heartbeat. His face heated up, and he got butterflies in his stomach. Jet desperately tried to find a distraction from the sensation. He dug through his backpack, tossing whatever out, when I paper that landed on the floor caught his attention. A ripped piece of off white paper- Jet reached down and grabbed it, he flipped it over to see a bunch of numbers and some rushed handwriting.

“If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m always available! - Sonic” After reading that out loud and processing it, Jet had a huge tic from just all of the things he was feeling. He cursed to himself and quickly shoved the paper in his pocket. 

“Gotta find something. C-come oooon!” Jet frantically searched for something in his backpack to make the ever increasing feelings go away. Stim toys were ruled out, and then Jet finally found his phone.  _ AHA! Finally.  _ Jet let out a sigh of relief as he unlocked his phone.

He mindlessly scrolled through social media for a while, seeing all that people posted. Wave was always non stop swooning over Rouge in almost everything she posted, which Jet already got enough of in person. He scrolled past some random other accounts, mainly Extreme Gear ones and a few gaming. Eventually, Jet scrolled to one of his fellow classmates' posts and his heart sank. It was him falling off of his gear during the race at school. Although he knew he shouldn't, his brain told him to look at the comments, and every single person mocked and ridiculed him. Jet set his phone down for a second and took a deep breath.  _ Everyone found it funny? I can’t blame them. But, Sonic didn’t find it funny. Why? How come every other person can laugh in my face, but he was just worried?  _ Just as he began to think about Sonic, those feelings returned, instantly getting on Jet’s nerves. 

“Alright, that’s f-f-fuck-fucking it! This can’t be hate, t-t-this is so an-annoying.” Jet angrily picked up his phone again and opened the search engine. He tried typing in something short, but descriptive enough to list out all of the symptoms.  _ Maybe I’m dying. That would explain the heart thing, my stomach feeling weird, and being hot as all hell constantly.  _ The loading bar very slowly began to fill up, a groan escaping Jet as it did so.

“Lousy wi-fi. Th-this is what-what we g-get for station-stationing out here!” Jet yelled out to no one.  _ Honestly, I hope I am dying. At least then I won’t have to deal with all of the humiliation.  _ The results finally popped up and Jet picked up his phone once more.

“No, no, no, NO!” He checked site after site, and they all said the exact same thing- diagnosis: a crush. Jet threw his phone at the wall, which luckily, due to him throwing his phone because of tics, had a throw-proof case. 

“This can’t be hap-happening! They-they have t-t-t-to be wrong. I mean, the in-in-internet lies all the time! Yeah, yeah! I m-mean, how many flu’s are actually can-can-cancer? A lot according to F-f-f-foogle! It’s all gotta be just some misunder-understanding of what I t-t-typed!” Jet paced around the room, stimming like there was no tomorrow. He thought for a minute about how Sonic always made him feel like that, and then thought back to when Wave and Rouge first started liking each other, and a lot of what Wave said was synonymous with how he felt. Jet let out a shriek, trying his hardest to convince himself otherwise, but deep down, he knew it to be true. 

“Fuck, fuck, f-f-fuck, FUCK!” He ran into the back room which Wave used as her workshop. Jet grabbed his gear, even though he wasn’t supposed to ride it while injured, it was his only stress relief that wouldn’t send him into another episode. Jet slammed open the door and ran back to get a head start, before starting up his gear and running forward, throwing the board underneath him, then taking air. The breeze running through his feathers immediately made him slightly calm down, but he was still thinking about his new realization. He had never had a crush on anyone before and of all people for it to happen with, it just happened to be Sonic.  _ Please, just tell me this is all a dream! Tell me that in a few seconds, I’m gonna wake up on the couch, and none of this ever happened.  _ Jet stayed in the hilled area, not really wanting to go into town and seeing people.  _ This isn’t real. And if it is, why the fuck does it have to be him!? Of anyone, it was him? He’s got a stupid laugh, a dumb voice, and uh, his quills look like shit!  _ Jet was trying his best to come up with insults to get rid of the feelings, but they still remained. 

“Chaos fucking dammit!” The thought of how from as far back as meeting 2 years ago and the multiple grand prix’s, even up to today, how he felt so safe around Sonic, even when he was mad at him. Sonic had  _ always  _ made Jet feel like this, and it took him this long to realize it. Jet’s brain was so fogged up with all of the thoughts running through it that he hadn’t been paying attention to the fact that he was still up in the air. But that didn’t last long when a yell was heard from a few yards away.

“BOSS!!!” Storm’s voice brought Jet from his mind so fast that he lost his balance and fell off of the board. The image of hitting the ground from when Jet broke his arm flashed before his eyes, but luckily, before he managed to make it all the way down, Storm swooped in, catching Jet as well as they could while trying to not grab onto the broken arm. Jet stared at Storm, eyes wide, still processing all that had just happened. Storm slowly brought them down to a landing to retrieve Jet’s gear from the grass. 

“Wave’s not gonna be too happy about this one, boss.” Jet grabbed his gear and looked at Storm, while he was still in shock, he wasn’t gone enough to not roll his eyes in response. 

“Y-y-yeah? Well, I-I-I’ll take it-it-it.” All that he wanted was for the day to end, and at this point, getting his daily lecturing was the least of his concerns. To keep Jet from riding, the two of them took the long walk back to the blimp. Storm had no problem being slow, but Jet was so tired of having time to think.

“You know, I care about ya, boss. You seriously shouldn’t have been doin’ that. You coulda gotten yourself hurt again. I don’t know what I woulda done with myself! I love you boss, you know that! You gotta be careful.” Storm said, having a lot of emotions whirring through their mind too, worried that if they hadn’t swooped in at just the right time, Jet could’ve gotten more hurt than the first time.

“I kn-know, Storm. I’m-I’m s-s-sorry. I . . . I l-love you, too.” Jet looked down, now upset that he had stressed out Storm. He had too much going on, and all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. They continued walked back home as the sun began to set

_ What the hell am I supposed to do now? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! What a weird way to find out you have a crush, huh? Man, that has to suck. This chapter is I think the longest, and it was pretty fun. There's not too much going on, but at the same time, things are being discovered. Anyway, thank you for reading, have a wonderful day <3


	11. Brother's are seriously nosy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic chapter time!!!

School had finally gotten out, and Sonic was so happy it was finally Friday. The week had been super stressful, and now it was finally over. The blue hedgehog walked out of the doors and stood by the bike rack, waiting for Tails to get out as well. Sonic was still in awe by how smart Tails was; the kid had made it to high school at such a young age. It was weird seeing his little brother as a freshman, especially considering he was definitely not supposed to ‘be one’. Sonic smiled, just so lucky to have the best sibling. He was interrupted by his phone that buzzed. Sonic shifted his backpack to pull the phone out of his pocket, surprised to find a text from Rouge. He swiped open his phone and opened the message. 

**_Rouge:_ ** _ Hey, hon! _

**_Sonic:_ ** _ Oh hey, Rouge! _

_ What’s up? _

**_Rouge:_ ** _ Not much. _

_ You? _

**_Sonic:_ ** _ Nothin much. Just getting out of school right now. _

_ Soooo _

_ What’s up? Why you texting me? _

_**Rouge:** Well, one, just to say ‘hello’ to the blue blur himself. _

_ But also to give you this! _

_ [Contact Attachment] _

**_Sonic:_ ** _ And that is???? _

**_Rouge:_ ** _ It’s Jet’s number, silly. _

_ I heard you gave him your’s. _

_ And you should know that he’ll never text first. _

**_Sonic:_ ** _ GASP! The whereabouts of my number are known by more than the original recipient? _

_ I am appalled! _

Sonic chuckled. His favourite thing while texting was pretending to be some medieval person.  _ Man, those theater classes really ARE rubbing off on me. _

**_Rouge:_ ** _ Yeah, yeah, your highness.  _

_ But I’m serious. _

**_Sonic:_ ** _ I gave him my number to text if he needed anyone to talk to. _

_ No need to get all serious. _

**_Rouge:_ ** _ Yeahh _

_ Surrrre, that was your “only intention”. _

**_Sonic:_ ** _ That’s it! _

_ This conversation no longer has any place for me! I shan't be spoken of this way! _

_ Good day, madam!  _

**_Rouge:_ ** _ Pfft _

_ Alright then, suit yourself. _

_ Farwell, o’ gracious one! _

Sonic found himself laughing at the conversation.  _ Glad everyone can keep the same medieval spirit.  _ The sun was at the point where it was going to start to set soon, the light glistening through the leaves. Sonic loved looking at all that nature has to offer. The breeze against his quills, the scent of everything, hearing the woodies talk to one another.  _ Everything is just perfect. _ The thought of Jet leaning against Sonic came back into his head, bringing a blush to his face.

“Oh, I see my brother has transformed into the world’s reddest tomato! Good to know.” Tails snickered, and Sonic shot him a playful glare, laughing with him as well.

“Man, was I really that red?” The two started walking home. Tails’ laugh being heard once more.

“Uh, yeah dude! I wouldn’t have made fun of you if you weren’t. So which is it: the flu or a crush?” A nervous laugh escaped Sonic’s mouth.  _ Man, I wish it were the flu!  _

“Unfortunately, it’s a crush.” Tails’ ears perked up and his tails playfully swayed back and forth.

“Dang it, Jim! I’m a doctor! Not a love consultant!” Sonic groaned and lightly punched Tails in the arm.

“What did I say about Star Trek references outside of Sunday’s?” The two gave each other fake glares before Tails threw his arms up in defeat.

“Ugh, fine! Sooooo, who is it? Do I know them? Are they cute? Why do you like them? Are you two already dating? And you didn’t tell me!? Sonic, how could you! Brother’s tell eachother everything!” Tails fake sobbed into his hands as Sonic let out a laugh.

“Calm down, dude! It’s just a little crush. And if I were dating them, you’d be the first person I’d tell.” Sonic put his hand on Tails’ shoulder, making the fox look up at him with a smile.

“Good. So, onto the next question! Who are they?” Sonic let out an awkward chuckle, not really sure if he wanted to tell Tails. To be honest, he had no clue how he would react.

“I, uh . . . I don’t know about that, bud.” Tails stopped in his tracks, which took Sonic a second to realize before he looked over to see no Tails. Sonic turned around and saw Tails making a pouty face. 

“Tails, come on! I wanna go home, it’s Friday!” Sonic pleaded with Tails.

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me who it is. As your brother, you are legally abided to tell me who you have a crush on!” Another groan left Sonic as he walked up to Tails, who still hadn’t budged.

“First of all, there is no law that says I have to tell you. And secondly, it’s probably for the best, you wouldn’t like it if I told you who he was.” Tails’ ears perked up and a large smile crept up on his mussel. 

“He? Okay, now time to narrow it down to every guy you know.”  _ Oh Chaos, Tails, why are you like this?  _ Sonic picked up Tails and started walking back home.

“Okay, um- Knuckles? Probably not. Shadow? Espio? Silver? Metal? That would be weird. Uhhhh, names, names, names, I’m blanking. Oh, I got it! Jet is one.” Tails noticed how Sonic’s grip changed and his ears twitched a little when he said Jet’s name. 

“AHA! I got it! You totally have a crush on Jet!” Sonic’s face heated up, both from thinking about his crush on Jet, and being called out on it.

“I-in your dreams, man.” The nervousness in Sonic’s voice made it so apparent that it was true. He let out a sigh and set Tails down, they continued walking.

“Fine, I like Jet. You happy?” Tails looked up at Sonic, who was much taller than he, and flaunted his gapped teeth and fangs.

“I am very much so, yes!” He pulled back and gave Sonic a decently hard punch on the arm, a verbal ‘ow!’ escaping Sonic as he did so.

“And that’s what you get for not telling me!” The two were almost home and Sonic was finally glad to be there so he could start his weekend. But he had a feeling that this conversation wouldn’t end here.

_ Maybe I should just tell Jet. He is already pissy all the time, this shouldn’t be any different. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So I want to start off by apologizing for how short this chapter is (barely over 1000 words). My tics are super bad today, and making it hard to type. But anyway, now Tails knows about Sonic's little crush! Tails will always try and be the best little brother he can, and even if Jet can be an ass, if Sonic like's him, than he's more than welcome to do so. Anyway, thank you for reading, have a wonderful day <3


	12. Jet's got a da-ate, Jet's got a date!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just a plan to hangout! Right?

It was a pretty normal Saturday for the Babylon Rogues. Wave was in her workshop, Storm was outside with their punching bag, and Jet was doing the extra chores that Wave was making him do for riding his gear when he wasn’t supposed to. The place was filthy. No matter how many times they would clean it up, within a matter of a few hours, there would be loads of dust, dirt, muddy floors, oil from the workshop, food from the kitchen, and laundry everywhere. They really weren’t the cleanest people, and it was usually a ‘nose goes’ for who had to clean it every Saturday, but they didn’t do that this time, since this was a punishment. Cleaning with a broken arm proved to be another difficult thing. Jet was struggling taking the cleaning supplies from room to room, carrying plates that were left out, and dirty laundry baskets that needed to be taken to the laundromat. After about an hour of cleaning, Jet had hardly even put a dent in all that he was given to do. He decided to take a quick break, so he sat on the newly cleaned carpeted floors and just tried to relax.  _ Stupid Wave. Yeah, make the guy with the broken arm do it! Because that’s a good idea.  _ Jet rolled his eyes and scoffed.  _ I mean, come one! Sometimes we clean all together, and I get it’s punishment, but like, a little help would be nice.  _ Just as Jet was about to get back to work, Wave came running out of the workshop, trying to get something in her hand to the kitchen sink, oil and grease coming off of it and straight onto the just cleaned carpet.  _ You’ve gotta be kidding me.  _ Before Jet could barely even finish that thought, Storm came bursting through the door, tracking in a disturbing amount of mud, adding even more dirt to the floor.

“Oh for f-fuck’s sake!” Jet finally stood up looking at the mess he’d have to clean up once more.

“Could you t-two not des-destroy the carpet for f-f-five fucking mi-minutes!?” The two older birds barely batted an eye at Jet being so upset. Rouge also emerged from the hallways, wiping motor oil off of her face and arms.

“Sweetie, I know you just cleaned it, but there was no saving this carpet, it’s been stained since before I even knew you guys.” Jet angrily stimmed by lightly bouncing and shaking his hands.

“What the hell even happened to you two anyway?” Both Wave and Rouge laughed and looked to Jet. 

“Yeah, that tape we were using to temporarily keep the oil inside of my boss’ buggie did NOT hold up all too well. That’s on him for telling me to fix something I told him I didn’t understand.” Wave shrugged her shoulders and continued washing off some random part. 

“Whatever. I cleaned what I could, the rest is on you guys.” Jet started walking back towards the bunks before Wave called out.

“Uh, no, your job was to do all of the chores! Even the ones that come up halfway through!” Wave shouted at Jet, to which he rolled his eyes and continued walking to their room. The shouting continued as he walked through the ‘door’. Jet struggled to hop up on his bed, but eventually got up after about a minute. He laid on his bed, just staring at the ceiling for a few minutes before he was pulled out of his trance by his phone buzzing.

“Unknown number? Who the hell . . . ?” Jet opened the message.

**_Sonic:_ ** _ Hey dude, sorry to just kinda text you out of the blue.  _

_ Rouge gave me your number. _

_ This is Sonic by the way! _

_ Sorry I didn’t state that front the start.  _

Jet groaned and stared at the entrance to the door, hoping that Rouge would feel his glare. After a few seconds he resumed the ‘conversation’, his face beginning to slightly heat up. 

**_Jet:_ ** _ What do you want, Hedgehog? _

**_Sonic:_ ** _ Well _

_ Not to be all up in your space _

_ But since we can’t race right now (you know, your arm) _

_ I was wondering if you’d want to hang out with me in town today? _

His face had gotten increasingly more warm. Jet wasn’t expecting Sonic to ask that, and with what he found out the day prior, he wasn’t sure if that was the best of ideas. He wanted this  _ stupid crush  _ to go away as quickly as possible.  _ But Sonic is one of the only people who is nice to me.  _ Jet was vocally stimming by this point, trying to calm himself down, not sure what he wanted to do.  _ Half of me like Sonic, and the other half is constantly mad at him. Which side do I listen to? On one hand, he is the only person besides Storm and Wave who wants to hang out with me. But on the other hand, me being around him not only makes me feel worse about myself, but there’s also a chance I could like him more. And all I want is for this dumb ass ‘crush’ to be over with as soon as possible.  _ Jet looked at his phone once more as it got another notification.

**_Sonic:_ ** _ I don’t wanna stress you out, dude _

_ It’s okay to say no. _

_ I know yesterday was a little bit rough for you. _

That was all Sonic needed to say. All he needed to do was suggest Jet ‘couldn’t handle another day out’, and Jet’s ego was not going to let him back down. He always did things like this; he always tried to prove himself to others.

**_Jet:_ ** _ Bold of you to assume I couldn’t handle a little tic attack. _

_ I’ll be there. _

_ Where do we meet? And What time?  _

Jet was completely lying to himself. After having a tic attack, he really did need to rest because it took so much out of him. But he wasn’t going to let Sonic ‘win’ by knowing he was ‘weak’.

**_Sonic:_ ** _ Oh, REALLY!? _

_ Cool _

_ Sick _

_ Radical _

_ Is Emerald Cafe at 3 pm good? _

**_Jet:_ ** _ Sounds fine to me.  _

_ See ya then, Hedgehog. _

The conversation ended after that, Jet sat up victoriously, glad he could prove that nothing would get him down. But the ego boost didn’t last for very long before he deflated.

“Ah, shit.” It finally hit that he just signed himself up for hanging out with Sonic, barely even a day after his attack. After a few minutes of sitting in his head, thinking about what he was going to do, another thought came into his head.  _ Dammit! Rouge gave him my number!? I wasn’t texting him for a reason, there was no reason for her to do that! _ Jet hopped down off of the bed, barely sticking the landing, and pushing his way through the curtains. He stormed into the kitchen where he heard Wave and Rouge and just shot her the biggest glare.

“YOU!” Jet pointed a finger at Rouge, and she let out a small laugh.

“What did I do this time, Jet?” She knew what this was about, but wanted to know how things turned out in Jet’s own words.

“You kn-n-n-now what you d-did-did! Giving Son-Son-Sonic my number! Now I h-have to g-go and hang-hang out with h-him!” Wave practically spat out her food when she was trying to laugh, but was able to hold it back.

“DUDE!” Wave screeched, laughing hysterically, and Rouge was starting to laugh as well.

“Hon, I never made you decide to go on a little  _ date  _ with Sonic. That’s all your doing.” She smirked. Jet’s face heated up so quickly the second she said the word ‘date’.

“Th-this is not a d-d-date! It-it’s just a-a hang-hangout in t-t-town!” Jet yelled back at the two who were still losing their minds.

“Jet’s got a da-ate! Jet’s got a da-ate!” The couple teased Jet with some random jingle. This made Jet absolutely livid, but before he went off on them, he stomped his way back into the bunks trying to calm down.

_ This is not a date! No way in hell is it a date! Chaos, why can’t those two just shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Dammit, Hedgehog! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So, this is a kinda short chapter, but I'm trying! I do have a plan for these chapters, I just can't execute them to the best of my abilities due to tics and just poor mental health. But DAAAAAAAATE? Nah, just a hangout. Right? Anyway, thank you for reading, have a wonderful day <3


	13. Bring it down about 10 notches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Sonic chapter) Sonic is so excited to hang out! But did he bite off more than he can chew?

Sonic sat on his bed, eyes wide in shock.  _ Did he just say ‘yes’? Holy shit, he just said ‘yes’!!!!  _ His mind screamed in joy as he bounced his leg up and down. A smile crept onto his face, along with a ‘light’ blush. Sonic jumped up from his bed, excited that he would actually have a normal interaction with Jet, no gear or anything like that! But then it hit him- what would they even do? Usually they would just race, or it would be at school, but this was different.  _ Oh Choas, oh shit! COME ON!!!! Why the hell did I not think this through fully before asking him to hang out!?  _ Sonic let out an agitated groan, leading Tails to check in on him.

“Hey, bro. You doin’ alright?” Sonic looked over to see a confused and slightly worried Tails standing in his doorframe. He readjusted his posture and turned to Tails.

“Dude, I just screwed up BIG time!” Tails raised a brow, curious of what his brother managed to do this time. 

“Okay, so I kinda asked Jet to meet me in town in a few hours to hang out, but I didn’t plan at all what we were even going to do! I just said it as a spur of the moment, but I should’ve known better, because Jet is kind of something that you have to plan out, he doesn’t really do too well with other things that he doesn’t find even the slightest bit enjoyable, and I’m afraid I won’t choose the right things in such a short amount of time!” The hedgehog blurted out, leaving him out of breath by how much he said that fast. Tails tried his best to keep up, but was pretty used to Sonic speaking at that speed.

“Well, you’ve got a few hours, you can still plan it out. And maybe Jet needs to get out of his comfort zone sometimes, ya know?” Tails knew what it was like to never want to do things that he didn’t enjoy, while it’s a common experience, it is a lot harder to put effort into it when you’re autistic; things don’t come as smoothly, and it can be quite stressful. But Sonic was the one who helped him get better at that, so maybe he can do the same for Jet.

“But he’ll probably go home if he isn’t having a good time, and I kind of want to actually have a decent interaction with him for once.” Sonic looked down, playing with his fingers. Tails sighed and walked over to him. 

“Come on, Sonic. You’ll be fine! Just get a brief idea of what you want to do that you think Jet would like, and then go off of that. And if he wants, he can suggest places to go along the way. You’re thinking about this a little too much. Unless . . . holy crap, this is a date, isn’t it!? HAHA! My brother got a date!” Tails was half joking, and half not. He wasn’t entirely sure, but Sonic sure as hell was acting as if it were. The teen looked at Tails and his shit eating grin, a blush all across his mussel, and he gave the fox a light punch in the arm.

“Will you shut up! This is not a date, it’s just a hang out.” The two of them laughed slightly, but both of them were half joking and half serious. Tails didn’t know what it was, and Sonic didn’t want to admit to what he wished it was. Tails gave Sonic a pat on the arm and started walking out of the room, but stopped just before he turned down the hallway.

“Oh, and I recommend that you maybe put on some clean clothes, you’ve been wearing those for a little too long.” Tails giggled and walked out, leaving Sonic staring at his dirty clothes.  _ Dammit, he’s right. Hopefully I have something in the dresser.  _

Sonic searched all throughout his room and finally found something that was clean.  _ Man, I need to do laundry more often.  _ He quickly got dressed and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and other things like that.  _ Why does it still smell like the dirty clothes? Is it just forever stuck in my nose?  _ He spit out the toothpaste and tried to figure if he had clothes lying somewhere, but it was then that he realized all of his anxious sweating had made him not smell that great. 

“Aw, man. Seriously?” The blue hedgehog walked out into the living room to see Tails doing schoolwork. He gave him a light tap on the shoulder, knocking the preteen out of his trance.

“Hey, dude, don’t use any hot water for a little bit, I’ve gotta take a shower.” Tails chuckled and looked at his brother.

“Alright! Don’t even fret about it, I was just gonna do schoolwork for a little bit anyway. Have a good shower,  _ loverboy _ .” Tails teased Sonic, making the teen groan from Tails sounding so much like a mom. Sonic walks back into the bathroom, when he just stops. He had gotten himself so worked up that his brain finally caught up with him. He sat down on the floor, his brain seeming to empty of all thoughts.  _ Come on, I was right there! Why does it have to act up now!?  _ This happened to Sonic quite often, usually if he got himself anxious, or he had a lot of things going on in his life, he would have short (sometimes long) episodes of his brain just kind of ‘stopping’. Not literally, of course, but in a way where doing things just seemed impossible. Even though he was sitting right next to the shower, his brain told him to just sit, and it was hard to get out of that funk. He took a few deep breaths and tried to pull himself out of the headspace.

Tails had noticed that he hadn’t heard the shower turn on yet, and it had been about 10 minutes. Confused, the fox gets up and walks to the bathroom, lightly knocking on the door.

“Hey, Sonic. You alright in there?” Sonic called back, and Tails let himself in. He saw his brother sitting on the floor, a grumpy expression left on his face. Tails sat down next to Sonic and looked at him, he had seen it a million times before, and it still wasn’t any easier for Sonic to deal with. It was extremely annoying not being able to do something that you are right next to. And it’s not that he’s physically incapable either, it just takes a lot of willpower to get himself up.

“You alright?” Sonic let out a sigh and looked to Tails.

“Ya know, I have no problem having ADHD, really, I don’t. But sometimes it kinda sucks. And of course I feel bad for saying that because it’s shit like that which makes people who don’t have these conditions wanting to ‘cure’ it and acting like it’s the worst thing in the world- But at moments like this, it really does suck.” The two sat side by side, and Tails rested his hand on Sonic’s forearm, understanding where he comes from.

“Yeah, it can be pretty sucky at times, and it’s hard to admit it because it makes it feel like they’ve won, but they didn’t. Being disabled is just something that we are, and that’s okay! There are always going to be bad or sucky times, but we eventually get better at managing it, and we figure out how to take care of ourselves in these situations. Don’t feel bad for saying it can suck, anything can suck, it just feels bad saying it because so many people want to erase who we are as people, but they can’t. You are the strongest and bravest person I know, and I am fully aware that you could win this ‘battle’ against the shower any day! All you have to do is take the first few steps.” The two exchanged a smile, and Tails helped Sonic get up. While he was still a little fuzzy in the head, he was feeling a little bit better. Sonic gave Tails a hug, giving him a ‘thank you’ in return. The quietness was soon interrupted by Sonic though, who shouted quite loudly in a very bad accent.

“Well, it would appear that I have a shower to get to, M’lord! So if you would mind, but some privacy in this chamber would be very much appreciated!” Tails snickered and continued the act as best as he could.

“Why of course, o’gracious one! How could I be so daft? Enjoy your shower, and may it be forever warm.” He bowed down and backed out, the two of them laughing as he did so. Sonic was then left alone, and he finally took his shower.

\---

Now clean, Sonic got re-dressed, brushed his teeth again because he felt like it, and fixed his quills. He looked in the mirror to make sure he looked alright, he got butterflies in his stomach as a blush crept onto his mussel once more.  _ It’s alright, Sonic, you’ve got this. It’s just a little hang out, how bad can it be?  _ He smiled and shook his arms to try and relieve some of his anxiety. It was time that he started heading out, so he said ‘bye’ to Tails, and started walking to town.

_ This is gonna be the best hangout, you just wait, Jet! Please let this turn out okay! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I know it's been awhile, but we had a snow storm knocking out the power, and I have also just not been doing the greatest recently. I had a meltdown the other night, and got a busted hand nerve 2.0 because I bit my hand and arms WAY too hard. But, it's okay, I can figure that out. I might not be as active with updating, but I will try. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I did use it to talk a little bit more about disabilities because they do mean a lot to me, and how this is just how we live, and we know what we're doing. So I'm sorry if it felt a little too preachy (?), I just really wanted to talk about it. Anyway, thank you for reading, have a wonderful day <3


	14. Strawberry water and laser tag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic and Jet have their little hangout with one another, but it might have only amplified Jet's feelings.

Even though Rouge was over and has a car, she was too busy helping out Wave to drive Jet to Emerald Cafe, so he had to walk instead. This wouldn’t be an issue if they weren’t stationed so far out of town. He angrily walked through the long grass, seeing the town slowly approaching.  _ Why the hell did I even agree to this? You know, trying to get rid of your stupid “feelings” doesn’t involve hanging out with him more! This is so dumb. What are we even gonna do? I should’ve asked him that. He could be doing this to take me to a place that I’ll hate. Or maybe one that makes me way too overstimulated. What if I end up having a meltdown? I don’t know if he knows how to handle them. What if he tries to restrain me if I do!? Oh Chaos, maybe I should just turn back now. It was a stupid idea to come here anyway.  _ Jet remained in his head, thinking of all the bad things that could happen. He had just figured out why he felt like this around Sonic, and wasn’t too sure if he should add fuel to the fire. Just as he was about to turn around, he heard the voice of a familiar blue hedgehog calling his name. Jet had been so caught up in his head, that he failed to realize that he had made his way into town. The hawk looked up and groaned, knowing it would be extremely mean to just turn around when he was in sight. Jet begrudgingly walked up to Sonic. 

“Jet! Glad you made it. I was starting to think that you changed your mind and stayed at home.” Sonic awkwardly rubbed his forearm, thinking that was exactly what Jet was going to do.

“Please, Hedgehog. I have a l-little bit more courtesy than that. I would have texted you if I didn’t want to be here.” Jet was trying to avoid the fact that he didn’t want to be there already feeling his face heat up when Sonic laughed at his ‘joke’.

“Say, uhhh- Since the cafe is here, do you want anything? I was about to go and get a chocolate milk, but then saw you, and didn’t want you to think that I bailed out.” There was an awkward silence. Jet had issues eating (and drinking) in front of others, and he wasn’t about to let Sonic know that, so he had to act like a dick about it.

“No. I don’t need any use-useless goop that I probably already h-h-have at home.” Sonic gave him a weird look, but quickly replaced it with a smile.

“Alrighty then. I’ll be out in a minute.” Jet watched as Sonic went inside and took a deep breath in. He had been freaking out, but tried to act cool about it. The hawk stimmed as much as he could while he was alone. He did feel bad being so rude to Sonic constantly, but his brain always made him do it for some reason. And if he is being completely honest, he probably should have gone inside to get something. They might be thieves, but they’re also broke, and don’t have much other than rice, beans, and boxed mac and cheese at home. Jet hadn’t eaten yet that day because none of those are really too great for breakfast; and he was a little busy with chores. 

He took out the stim toy he brought with him and started to mess with it. That was, until he heard the door chime, and Sonic walking out. Jet panicked trying to put it back in his pocket, but just looked like a fumbling mess instead. Sonic chuckled and spoke up.

“You don’t have to put it away, ya know? I don’t care if you need to fidget. I use those things all the time. Oh, and here! I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I find most people like this.” Sonic held out the cup, and Jet hesitantly grabbed it. The shorter teen stared it down, not sure what it was.

“Dude, I promise it’s not poison, you don’t have to look at it like that. It’s just strawberry water. No goop, just normal water, a few strawberries, and that’s it.” It was Jet’s turn to give a strange glance, still unsure of whether he actually wanted to taste it or not.

“Well go on! It’s seriously not that bad. Just try it!” The two stood still for a moment before Jet let out a defeated sigh.

“F-f-fine, but don-don-don’t look at me.” Sonic playfully put his hands up slightly and turned around. Jet took a sip of the water and actually enjoyed it. It was much better than the metallic water he had back at home. And it was nice to taste fruit for the first time in awhile. 

“Sooooo, what do ya think? Do you like it?” Sonic turns back around and looks towards Jet.

“It’s um, it’s f-f-fine.” Jet’s grumpy expression changed to one of shock when Sonic playfully pushed him. Something the hawk was not expecting. While he wasn’t sure if he was trying to be playful back, or if he was genuinely angry, Jet gave the other teen a pretty hard push; at least as hard as he could give with only one working arm. Sonic laughed, quickly stopping himself before he bumped into some random lady who happened to be walking past. It wasn’t that hard, but Sonic gave Jet another push, but this one led him bumping into a parked car, right onto his broken arm. A shriek escaped Jet as a throbbing pain shot through his arm. 

“Oh shit, Jet, I am so sorry! I keep forgetting about that.” Sonic immediately felt guilty, and watched as Jet regained his balance, very clearly in pain. Jet clenched his beak, trying his hardest to ignore that pain. The two stood there for a few minutes before Jet was able to go forward, but they didn’t go too far, they just walked over to this wall and leaned against it for a while. There was a very awkward silence, and Sonic was getting the feeling that Jet might leave soon, just as he feared would happen. Jet on the other hand was more focused on waiting for his arm to feel a little bit better. Just as Sonic was going to say something, the shop owner came out and yelled at the two.

“Hey! Can’t ya read the sign!? It says ‘No Loitering’! Go somewhere else!” The guy glared them down, and Sonic gave him a slight nod that signified they were leaving, and the owner went back inside. As they started walking again, Sonic was trying to think of places that they could go that Jet might like.

“So uhh, do you like arcades and laser tag?” Sonic asked nervously. The pain in Jet’s arm had finally started to go down. He looked up to see a guilty Sonic staring at him.  _ Give him a break, he’s trying to be nice. _

“I have on-only been t-to an arcade once, and I don’t know how to p-p-play laser tag. But I guess you could say I l-like them?” He wasn’t even sure if he did since it had been so long since he actually played in one, so it was more of a question to himself. But that was all Sonic needed to hear to decide to head to the arcade.

“Well, the laser tag happens to be in the arcade, so if you end up not liking that, then we can just go and play a few games! How does that sound?” Sonic was very clearly excited, and wanting to go do laser tag, and Jet begrudgingly forced himself to just go with it. He didn’t do much else than ride his gear, who knows, maybe he would enjoy something different.

“Uhhh, s-sure. Let’s do l-l-la-laser tag.” Sonic led the way, practically skipping he was so excited. He hadn’t done laser tag in quite a while, and it seemed like something that Jet might actually enjoy too!

\--- 

Sonic got the tickets from the prize booth. The two walked into the instructions room and waited for some more people to join. Sonic was bouncing from excitement, but for Jet, he was rocking back and forth, stimming aggressively, consumed by not only the blaring sounds of the arcade, but the weird sci-fi music that was coming through the speakers full blast. More and more people entered the instructions center, and their sounds only made Jet get worse. Sonic began to notice this and stopped for a minute, he had borrowed a pair of Tails’ noise cancelling headphones because he was hoping they’d go to the arcade. He grabbed them from his pocket and held them out to Jet, who was surprised when he opened his eyes.

“Here, I know that sound kind of sets you off. You should still be able to hear me talk, but it will help with the background noises.” Sonic gave Jet a smile, making the hawks face heat up exponentially. He slowly took them from Sonic and put them on, his brain feeling immediate relief; he smiled.

“Th-thanks. That is act-actually r-r-really nice of y-you.” Before Sonic could respond, the game overseer entered the instruction center. She quickly explained the rules, and sent them off into the ‘gear-up room’. There were vests with laser guns attached to them, one wall had red coloured ones, and the other had yellow. The room was dark, and there were lots of different sounds, slightly disorienting Jet, but he tried his best to push past it.

“Since you’re new to the game, I think we should be on the same team. What colour do you want?” Jet pointed to the red and Sonic grabbed both of their vests. The two put them on. They were uncomfortable, heavy plastic, and they made a lot of random noise. Sonic looked at Jet and laughed a little bit, this made Jet slightly angry, not sure what was so funny. 

“What!?” Jet yelled out, his voice barely heard over the music and talking in the small room.

“Nothing, it's just that . . .” Sonic could barely speak without bursting into another fit of laughter.

“It’s just that- for a hawk, you are kinda tiny! And that vest might be a little too big on you!” Jet looked down to the vest, barely hanging on. He hadn’t noticed that there were different sized vests, and just thought that they were supposed to be a little loose, but according to Sonic’s reaction, they were not. Jet was now just slightly pissed off. He was already a little unstable due to being so overstimulated, but he was trying his best to stay calm. He quickly found the readjustment straps and tightened the vest just enough so that it didn’t look ‘ridiculous’. Both of them were going to say something, but they were quickly ushered into the actual playing room. Sonic, still calming down from laughing too much, led Jet to the red side of the court, which was the opposite side of the door. They made it to start and waited for instructions. 

“Ya kn-know, Hedgehog, you c-c-could have just tol-told me, instead o-o-of just laughing. You’re a-a-a shitty team-m-mate.” The second half was Jet’s attempt at humor. Sometimes he could, but, like at this moment, it wasn’t great. But Sonic laughed anyway, making Jet blush once more; luckily, it couldn’t be seen in the random coloured lights flashing.

**_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING_ **

The alarm went off, and the game had begun. The two split ways and started heading to the yellow side, trying to sneakily shoot their target. Lights flashed, laser sounds everywhere, metal music playing above the speakers. All of it was a little bit much for Jet, but he was also taking a liking to the game. He was enjoying sneaking around corners and shooting random people. He was slowly backing away on the center bridge when he felt himself bump into someone, they both quickly turned around and shot one another, vests flashing, signifying they were both down. When he looked at who he had just shot, he saw it was Sonic, the two of them laughed and started heading to base to recharge.

“Dude, I totally didn’t even know it was you!” Sonic shook his head, embarrassed he just shot his own teammate.

“I’m j-j-just sh-shooting at anyon-n-ne, really.” Jet saying that made both of them laugh once more. Sonic was glad that it seemed Jet was enjoying the game.

They made it back to base and stood for a few seconds before their vests beeped, letting them know they were back in the game. To make sure they didn’t shoot each other again, they decided to stick together, and move as a unit. Slowly but surely, they inched their way over to the yellow side, taking down as many people as they possibly could. Eventually they made it to the yellow base and shot the target, giving a point to the red team. Just as they cheered in victory, someone popped from around the corner and shot Sonic. Jet was confused when Sonic dropped to the ground and pretended to gasp for air, but quickly got that it was some weird act.

“Jet! They got me! I-I can’t believe it. We did it, by Chaos, we did it. We got their target!” While it was not something Jet was used to, he tried his best to play along.

“Um . . . B-but at wh-what cost!? What is m-m-more important? Winning a g-g-game? Or th-the life of a c-c-comrad.” They both chuckled, and Jet kneeled down. Sonic reached out into the air, using his ‘dying breath’.

“Tell my wife and child, that I love them. And-and -an . . .” Sonic pretended to die and Jet laughed, but quickly held it down, letting out a quiet, but exaggerated ‘NO!’. Just as the two had finished the ‘scene’, another kid from the yellow team poked his head from around the corner and shot Jet; this made Sonic laugh even harder.

“Well, so much for that act.” Sonic got up and the two started to head back to red base. They were both having a really good time, surprised things were going so well. 

After a few more rounds, it had gotten kind of late, and both of them were sweaty and out of breath. The game finished and they headed out into the arcade.

“So, you wanna play some games or- oh man, I hadn’t realized it was so late!” The two looked outside the windows and saw that the sun had already set. Granted, they started hanging out at 3pm, and the sun set earlier this time of year, but still. 

“I guess it’s time to go home then, huh?” Sonic rubbed his quills, kind of sad that they had to end the hangout already.

“Oh, um, p-p-probably.” Jet sighed, and the two walked outside into the cool night air. Jet took off the headphones and handed them to Sonic.    
  


“H-here’s these.” He stopped for a second and looked at the ground. He had a really good time with Sonic, and he wasn’t sure if that made him happy or angry. Luckily, Sonic couldn’t tell just how much his face had heated up since they were both still incredibly hot from running around in that small room.

“I had fun, Jet. I hope we can do this again!” Sonic smiled, which Jet returned.

“I h-h-had a lot of-of fun too, a-a-act-actually. Thanks f-for inviting me!” They stood in silence for a moment, neither of them really wanting to leave.

“Well, I um, best be getting going. Tails is probably worried I haven’t come home by now.” Sonic awkwardly broke the silence, still trying to stay, but knowing it would be better to just go home.

“I sh-sh-should too. Have a g-g-good ni-night, I guess?” They gave each other one last smile and headed on their ways back to their homes. Jet sat in his mind once more. _I don’t care if that was fun, that was a stupid idea! Why would you hang out with someone that you’re trying to get out of your head!?_ Jet let out a loud groan in anger. He knew that his crush on Sonic had only gotten worse during that, and he hated it.

_ I’m such an idiot. I’ll never get that stupid hedgehog out of my head now. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! What's this? An almost 3,000 word chapter??? Man that was fun! I am very proud of how long this ended up being! I hope that seeing them interact in a way like this was enjoyable. We are getting a little bit out of the slow burn as we're getting closer to seeing a little bit more, so I hope this isn't too bad. I want to thank everyone who has read this story, and my little comment buddy, you mean a lot to me! Anyway, thank you for reading, have a wonderful day <3


	15. Crush's are too diffucult

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Sonic chapter)  
> After the hangout, Tails wants to know everything, but is still confused by a few things.

Tails jumped at the sound of the door slamming shut; he turned around and saw Sonic taking off his shoes, still smiling. The fox quietly laughed to himself and flipped around, leaning his arms against the headrest of the couch to face his older brother.

“Soooo . . . how was it!? Tell me everything that happened.” He watched as Sonic’s smile grew wider, a very obvious blush on his face. The hedgehog walked into the living room and quickly patted Tails atop his head.

“Dude, I had the BEST time! It started off kinda bad, but then things got better, and I’m just so hnnnnnn.” Sonic found it hard to express just how he was feeling in words. Everything felt as if he were stuck in time, but he was moving about a million miles a second, still shaky from his heart beating so fast. Tails smiled at his brother, glad that he had such a good time and that Jet didn’t bail.

“What all did you two do? I know you were worried he wouldn’t like just wandering around.” The fox looking towards Sonic, genuinely interested in the day Sonic had.

“Okay, well first we went to the cafe- maybe I should say  _ I  _ went into the cafe. We met up there, but Jet didn’t want to go inside.” Tails nodded, letting Sonic know he was listening.

“And then I tried being playful, but sometimes I don’t realize how roughI can be, and I totally pushed him on to a car by accident . . . right on his broken arm.” Sonic let out an embarrassed sigh and Tails struggled to not burst out into laughter. He knew just how aggressive Sonic could get when he was being playful, and he could just envision what the scene looked like.

“And what did ya do after that- throw him across the street?” Tails laughed and Sonic lightly punched him in the arm.

“No, for your information, we went to the arcade! We didn’t really do any actual games, but we got to play laser tag! It was SO much fun!” Sonic was getting all flustered again, but also bouncy just thinking about how good of a time the two had. 

“I’m glad that today ended up going well! Now help me make dinner, I’ve been waiting for you, and if you were a minute later, you wouldn’t have eaten tonight.” The teen rolled his eyes and headed to the kitchen with Tails.

\---

The two were making spaghetti. Sonic was in charge of the noodles, and Tails was taking care of the sauce and other vegetables. Everything was going pretty smoothly, except the sauce boiling over a little while earlier, but they quickly got that cleaned up. The silence was unusual in their house, but neither of them minded since it was later in the night, and they were a little focused on cooking. Tails looked up from the cutting board. A question had lingered on his mind for a few days now, and he questioned whether to bring it up to Sonic or not. After a few minutes of deep thought and questioning all the ways this could go over, Tails spoke up.

“Sonic, I want to ask you something, but please don’t be mad.” The hedgehog looked up from the pot confused.

“I could never be mad at you dude, you're my brother.” Tails let out a sigh. He wasn’t trying to be mean with what he was about to say, he just wanted to know.

“So I am just curious why exactly you like Jet? No offense, but, while granted, he has gotten better, isn’t he a little bit of a cocky jerk? Friends, sure, but I can’t really see how you would have a crush on him.” Tails bit his lip and grabbed one of his tails. The second the words came out of his mouth, he realized just how rudely he phrased that; and it was only more apparent by how quiet Sonic had gotten. The fox looked up and saw Sonic seemingly lost in his own mind.

“Well, I just kinda do?” Sonic spoke up, trying to keep his cool.

“Yeah, he can be rude, but there is something else there and I see it. Sure, he can be mean, and likes to make fun of people, but I think that’s all he knows? He can be extremely nice, and seems like a different person when he gets comfortable. I don’t expect you to understand, but even if I can’t explain it too well, I know how I feel. And if I’m being completely honest, I don’t care if he can be cocky or rude because that’s not all he is- it’s kinda just like a wall or  façade he puts up. Of course some of it’s actually him, but the more I hang out with him, the more I realize that there’s more than that.” A blush creeps onto Sonic’s mussel after he realized how long he just talked about Jet.

There was another silence in the kitchen, only making Sonic even more embarrassed. 

“To each their own. I would like to see that side of Jet! Maybe I wouldn’t have been so ‘judgmental’ at first if I knew, but it seems like few people actually see that side of him. You must be something different to him to let his wall down like that to you.” Tails smiled, he was trying his best to get a rise out of Sonic, and it totally worked. The hedgehog was beat red.  _ Could that be true? Tails is right, Jet is very particular about who he shows his other side to. The only other people I know he lets see, besides me, are the Babylon Rogues and Rouge. What does that mean though? Are we actually friends!? Does Jet consider me his friend!?  _

**_SNAP, SNAP, SNAP_ **

“Mobius to Sonic! Do you read me?” Sonic was snapped out of his thoughts by Tails, who was staring at him with that same grin, the one he gave when he would try and get under Sonic’s skin. 

“Good, you’re back. Since you’re the one in charge of the noodles, I thought I should tell you that they’re done.” Sonic looked down at the pot and saw that they were, he was so caught up thinking about Jet that he totally forgot what he was doing. He quickly brought them to the sink and put them in the strainer. 

\---

The two sat on the couch eating their dinner and watching Tails’ Sunday reruns of Star Trek; Sonic was still deep in thought, but this time, Tails was too entranced by his show to even notice. Thoughts swirled around the teens head, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. His crush was only getting stronger, and he didn’t know if he should just ‘come clean’ or not. On one hand, Jet might be okay with it and they’ll move on. But on the other hand, it could totally ruin the potential friendship that was building up. Sonic mentally sighed and looked up at the ceiling, just wishing things like this could be easier.

_ What am I supposed to do? Jet- how mad would you really be if I just fessed up? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry I have been gone for like a week plus. I am not doing too well right now, and I'm in a really bad depressive episode. I am totally okay to be writing today and I just wrote the outlines for the next 3 chapters, so don't expect too long of a wait for the next one (if I'm feeling somewhat okay, it might be tomorrow)! I hope that this chapter was okay, I know it was a little slow, my apologies! Anyway, thank you for reading, have a wonderful day <3


	16. Take a look to your left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic and Jet skip health class to go goof off somewhere else, but Jet starts to think more on the whole 'crush emergency'.

It was finally Monday, and school was going pretty normally. It was a ‘B’ day schedule, and both Sonic and Jet had health class as their last period. The previous unit had just been wrapped up, so it was a total surprise what the new topic would be. 

Sonic saw Jet sitting alone in the corner and decided to join him. The hawk was a little bit surprised to see Sonic, but just to keep his cool and not make it obvious about his more recent discovery. More and more students filtered into the class, but the teacher had still not entered for some reason. Jet was messing with the tape on his cast trying to pass the time before class started; Sonic found himself staring at the other teen, not with any intent really, it was a slow day and it showed. The bell finally rang, but there was still no sign of the teacher. As in most situations like this, the class was extremely loud for seemingly no reason at all, everyone visiting their friends desks, things being thrown, threats being given from across the classroom - definitely high school. _Why the hell does no one in this school ever shut up!? Is it that hard to just be quiet for ONE minute?_ Sonic saw Jet covering his ears, tapping his fingers and rocking ever so slightly. Just as he was about to try and help out Jet, the teacher came running through the door, planner in hand.

“I’m so sorry everyone, I didn’t mean to be running so late, I got caught up in a meeting!” The short goat apologized to the class. 

Jet slowly returned to a normal position, still rocking slightly, but this time just because it felt nice. The teacher was very clearly flustered, struggling to get his papers in order.

“Okay, class! Now, before I start today’s lesson, I need you all to be mature and act civilized. Listen, I know you’re teenagers, but for that same reason, this is very important.” The goat cleared his throat, the class already knowing what he was about to talk about, leaving all of them on the edge of their seat.

“Since this is health, we are going to be going into the sex ed lesson.” He could barely finish his sentence before multiple students were laughing and making all sorts of stupid noises. Jet cringed at the upcoming lesson, and the sounds that were mushing together to create a jumbled mess that he couldn’t make out. The teacher’s voice could barely be heard over everyone’s yelling; so much for maturity. 

_Ugh, do I have to be here for this lesson? There’s got to be a way out of this. I am not going to be in a room full of idiots whilst some random guy in his late 40’s explains sex to me, that’s just disgusting. Think Jet, think! Is there anything on my 504 plan that allows me to be excused at the beginning of class?_ Jet sat still, trying his hardest to remember all of the things he was allowed to do. Sonic was getting annoyed by how long the other students were going on for. There were other students who weren’t making such a rackess of course, but they were ‘outshined’ by the kids who couldn’t get over themselves and some lesson that really isn’t even that detailed. 

Jet stood up, grabbing his bag and walking up to the teacher who was still desperately trying to get the class to settle down. The goat looked confused.

“C-could I take a walk? It-it-it’s a little t-too loud.” There was a pause from the teacher before he quickly agreed and sent Jet on his way. The hawk smiled, glad to get out of the class and into the relatively quiet hallway. 

_Finally, no one to disturb me out here. No weird talk that I already know about. I mean, I get that it’s an important discussion, but it doesn’t even apply to me, so there’s no reason for me to even be in there._ Out of nowhere, Sonic came down the hallway practically flying, scaring Jet by lightly slamming his hands on the hawks shoulders. Out of instinct, Jet’s left hand flew back in the fist position, finding its way straight into Sonic’s stomach. The taller teen crouched down, clenching his gut.

“Aw shit, man. I didn’t mean to scare ya _that_ badly. At least we know your left arms works good!” Sonic spoke through clenched teeth. He took a deep breath in and stood back up.

“Sorry . . . but it was your own f-fault.” Both of them lightly smiled.

“Yeah, I know. I just uh- wasn’t expecting that!” Sonic chuckled and Jet leaned against the locker, watching as the hedgehog was still trying to fully recover.

“So . . . what are you do-doing out here anyway? How did you even get ou-out?” Jet asked Sonic, and then noticed just how much his stutter did go away when he was around the other. It was mainly anxiety based, so it confused him on why it would be so different around Sonic when all he has done is cause Jet to become even more stressed.

“Easy, dude! I literally just walked out. Poor guy was so caught up with all of the other students that he didn’t even notice me. Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, I am quite fast.” Sonic pulled at his shirt, and stood with his chest puffed out in his best ‘overly confident’ guy pose he could give, with the widest grin. Jet snickered at the _stupid sight to behold,_ and lightly kicked Sonic in the shin causing him to stop.

“Oh, and I left because I didn’t really feel like sitting through that lesson with everyone being so annoying. NOW! Enough of my interrogation. Mr. Hawk, what brings you to these hallways on such an _important_ lesson? How far do you think skipping school will get you, young man?” Sonic could barely keep together his detective act, and Jet just stared at him in confusion.

“That lesson doesn’t really matter to me. D-don’t need it.” Jet shrugged his shoulders, picking up his bag and started to walk down the other hallway, Sonic quickly catching up.

“You don’t need it, aye? And why might that be? Let me guess, Wave gave you the whole talk at like age 2 or something?” Sonic laughed and Jet sort of did as well.

“I was 10, and it was Storm actually. As for the ‘I-I don’t need it’- I literally don’t dude, I’m ace.” Sonic nodded his head at the new information.

“Nice, nice. Now tell me, as someone who is ace, you must answer this one question I have for you . . . Is it gay to kiss the homies?” Jet looked at Sonic and laughed.

“Shut the fuck up, dude.” The hawk gave Sonic a push, the blue hedgehog laughing as well. Even though it was a joke, both of them had a very faint blush creeping onto their faces.

\---

After a while of wandering the halls, the two found themselves in the bathroom wetting paper towels and throwing them at the ceiling. By the time there were about twenty some odd paper wads on the ceiling, one dried up and fell on top of Jet’s head, making a splat sound as it did so. This caused the already laughing Sonic to lose his mind and fall to the floor with how much he began to laugh. Jet grabbed the wet paper towel from atop his head and chucked it at Sonic who was shocked to feel the cold dampness hit his face.

“You little shit!” Sonic shot up and threw it back at Jet, which he managed to dodge this time. The hedgehog quickly grabbed the broom from by the trashcan and smacked all of the towels from the ceiling towards Jet, who got hit by a lot of them.

“You are g-gonna get it now, Hedgehog!” The water only slightly messed with Jet’s sensory issues, but he was too focused on pummeling Sonic with wet, gooshy towels to think about it. The two threw them back and forth, not even aware of the student who had just walked in. Jet stopped once he saw the kid and Sonic quickly followed suit. They looked at the kid who quickly turned back around and left, causing them to burst out in laughter.

“Oh man, he’s never coming back to this bathroom!” There was something about this laugh in particular that made Jet’s heart race. He tried to push it down and keep it together. 

“Y-yeah, and if he does, I’ve g-g-got a little surprise for him.” The two kept laughing, but Jet remained in his head. Both sides of him were fighting- one was still denying that he even had a crush on Sonic, while the other was so OVERLY aware of it that it was all he thought about. He could feel the inner turmoil, but in that moment, he was able to feel something. Just looking at Sonic laughing brought a smile to his face. Jet could make fun of it all day, but deep down, he felt something else, something that he wanted to feel more of- it was strangely happy.

_Maybe this isn’t so bad after all, Hedgehog._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is a little bit of a longer chapter, but I feel as if not too much happens, and I'm kind of sorry fot that. I kind of like stringing you guys along with making them get close, but not close enough- I really like slow burns, and let me tell you, this is a SLOW burn. And yes, I project onto Jet so much, it isn't even funny. While I may also be aromantic, unlike Jet here, I just find it funny how much of me I put onto him (makes it easier for me to write, ya know, relatability things). Anyway, thank you for reading, have a wonderful day <3

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction, and I am also ace/aro, so I'm trying my best. If you have any issues, feel free to take them up in the comments. Thanks for reading <3


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